Canada and Afghanistan - A Multi-Part Series (Pt. 1)

By: Tim Mak
This is part of The Value of Time's five-part series on Canada's role in Afghanistan. Today, in part one: An Introduction to the Series

After 9/11, Canada reacted with the world to condemn Afghanistan’s Taliban regime and acted with force, sending Special Forces units to fight alongside the Americans in order to topple the Islamist regime. Regular forces followed suit, arriving on the ground early in 2002 to join the Kabul-based International Security Assistance Force. In May 2005, the Paul Martin administration agreed to take responsibility for the volatile Kandahar region in the south of Afghanistan. As of 2007, there are approximately 2,500 Canadian troops in the country, with a majority of them in Kandahar. As Canadian Forces in the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan stepped up to take responsibility for a dangerous region that had been the centre of the Taliban movement that battered the country in the 1990s, the media began to cover the Canadian Forces more. New terms like ‘ramp ceremony’ began to become commonplace. The deaths of our brave and courageous soldiers need to be recognized, of course, but is the media taking a representative image of what is going on in Afghanistan? Are the stories we’re shown indicative of all we’re doing? Why should we support the mission in the face of Canadian deaths? What should we be doing from here on in? In five sections over the next week, this blog intends to fill in some of the blanks. This series will discuss what we’re achieving in Afghanistan, why reconstruction on its own is not enough, why we should be supporting the mission, and what Canada needs to do from here.