July 4, 2007: The Taliban strategy of killing certain foreign troops, for the purpose of changing political opinion back home, has made enough progress to encourage the terrorists. Since 2002, 60 Canadian troops have been killed in Afghanistan. But the United States, with about ten times as many troops in the country during that period, has only lost 337. That means Canada has a casualty rate about 80 percent higher than the U.S. Most of the Canadian losses have occurred during offensive operations, when the Taliban were being sought out and attacked. But the Taliban have openly talked about aiming their suicide bomber and roadside bomb attacks at Canadians, in order to persuade more Canadian voters to demand that Canadian troops be pulled out of Afghanistan. It's having some effect, as the Canadian prime minister recently agreed that there would have to be a consensus in Canada over whether to keep troops in Afghanistan beyond 2009. An added problem for Canadian politicians is the reluctance of so many other NATO nations to allow their troops to engage in combat. Nations like Germany will only allow their troops to operate in parts of Afghanistan that are largely free of Taliban violence. This has been difficult to justify to Canadian voters. The Taliban know this, and try to make the most of it.