Maybe this is why Osama bin Laden wants our European allies to abandon Afghanistan?

Canada is winning the war in Afghanistan and is making significant progress in rebuilding that South Asian country, says the general who commands the Canadian Forces mission in Kandahar.

But Lt.-Gen. Michel Gauthier, who heads the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command in Ottawa, warns that because Afghan insurgents are losing ground, they likely will resort to increasing the number of roadside bombs and suicide attacks in an attempt to inflict more casualties on troops.

“From a military perspective in the south of Afghanistan, in Kandahar specifically, we are winning,” Lt.-Gen. Gauthier said in an interview with CanWest News Service. “We are winning where it matters most, where the people live. Where 90 per cent of the population is, we have a strong security influence in concert with our Afghan partners.”

With Iraq improving and becoming almost completely hostile to al Qaeda and with Afghanistan turning sour, and with the Pakistanis reportedly (toss all appropriate caveats on that, given Pakistan’s current state of affairs) making progress against the Taliban in Swat, things are looking bad all over for the terrorists.