tanks and rocket launchers. Canada helped clear about one third of the estimated 10 to 15 million mines in Afghanistan. Canada lent money to over 140,000 people in Afghanistan. Canada helped train the Afghan police and army. Since December 2001, Canada was an active participant in the civilian-led United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. The Canadian military terms it Operation ACCIUS. In September 2005, Canada initiated the Strategic Advisory Team – Afghanistan (SAT-A), known as Operation ARGUS, to mentor aspects of the Afghan government on defence issues. It usually contained around fifteen personnel and one CIDA official. The SAT-A had often been considered a pet project of Chief of Defense Staff Rick Hillier and was shut down in August 2008, a month after his retirement. Since early 2006, the Canadian Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT) helped to train and equip the ANA to take over security from the coalition. OMLT's 200 personnel trained 1,000 Afghan soldiers at a time, and also had a subgroup to mentor the Afghan National Police. Public opinion The mission to Afghanistan was politically controversial with the Canadian public: On 31 August 2006, New Democrat leader Jack Layton called for the withdrawal of Canadian troops from the south of Afghanistan, to begin immediately and soon afterwards pursue peace negotiations with the Taliban insurgents. He argued that the mission lacked clear objectives and measures of success and that the counter-insurgency operation was undermining reconstruction in Afghanistan. The Liberals and the governing Conservatives were generally supportive of the mission in Afghanistan. While initially in support of the war, the Bloc Québécois opposed any extension beyond the initial withdrawal date. Opinion amongst pundits and academics was generally divided along ideological lines, with left-leaning media outlets and think-tanks being against the war, and right-leaning publications and institutes being supportive. Successive surveys conducted by various pollsters across the political spectrum suggest opposition to the war amongst the general public grew over time: At the end of 2001, a poll quoted by The Washington Post showed that 74% of Canadians supported the US-led war in Afghanistan. One year after the September 11 attacks, Ekos reported that a majority of Canadians still supported the participation of the Canadian military in Afghanistan, with only one in five opposing. In 2006, as Canada was expanding its presence in the country, a Strategic Counsel poll conducted for CTV News and The Globe and Mail suggested