PANJWAII DISTRICT, Afghanistan — Equipment, not manpower, is the key stress point facing the Canadian military as it struggles with a lengthy and dangerous deployment in the harsh and hostile environment of southern Afghanistan, Canada's top soldier said this week.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Gen. Walter Natynczyk expressed optimism despite the heavy toll the insurgent war is taking.

"Some of the equipment is really fatigued -- that's one of the big pressure points," Natynczyk said during a visit to a patrol base in the Panjwaii district.

"So the stress . . . is on equipment but the people who are here want to be here."

As if to underline the point, a Canadian LAV en route to a major mission on Thursday struck an improvised explosive device, injuring three soldiers, one of them seriously.

A second vehicle clearing the same area later in the day also hit a roadside bomb.

Natynczyk, the chief of defence staff, was in Kandahar province for a three-day pep visit to troops at their forward operating bases and to gauge the war effort first hand.

For security reasons, details of his visit were embargoed until he left the country, which he did Friday.

One measure of how well the troops are dealing with the difficult deployment is the number of those who have already done a rotation in Afghanistan and want to return for a second tour or even third tour, Natynczyk said.

With two Canadian deaths and several injuries in the past two weeks -- all by way of the dreaded improvised explosive device -- the general said the risks of the deployment are all too obvious.

"The situation is violent; it's a dangerous situation," he said. "At the same time, I see increasing capacity by the Afghan army."

Natynczyk said the Afghan National Army is developing the capability to plan and implement anti-insurgent operations on its own.

That allows them to gain the confidence of the Afghan population, who in turn are more likely to trust the soldiers with information on the insurgents, which again allows for more effective anti-insurgent action, he said.

Joint operations between the Afghan army and the international forces have been effective in recent months, he added.

A self-sufficient and capable national army and police force is critical to Canada's strategy of gradually turning over its combat role to the Afghans ahead of Canadian Forces' withdrawal in 2011.

Before he left Friday, Natynczyk said the influx of thousands of American reinforcements is another welcome development in the overall effort to blunt the insurgency, although he said the result will inevitably be more bloodshed, at least in the short term.

He also praised Pakistan's crackdown on the Taliban networks that are feeding the insurgency in Afghanistan.

In a pep talk in the mess hall of the most remote Canadian patrol base in the volatile Panjwaii district, the general urged the soldiers to stay focused on the mission until 2011.

He also handed out "CDS coins" -- commemorative medallions -- to several soldiers who had distinguished themselves during their service in Afghanistan.