# "Only time will reveal worth of Canada's war in Afghanistan"



## Sigger (11 Jul 2011)

Only time will reveal worth of Canada's war in Afghanistan
By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/opinion/Only+time+will+reveal+worth+Canada+Afghanistan/5082246/story.html

Was Canada's war in Afghanistan worth it?

It is an obvious question as Canada formally signs away its combat responsibilities in Kandahar to a U.S. task force Thursday morning.

But this is surely a matter that will be far better answered by historians in 20 or 30 years than by anyone today, no matter how familiar they are with this beguiling, frustrating, immensely complicated country and Canada's efforts since its first infantrymen set foot here nine years and five months ago.

Until now, it is almost impossible to judge Canada's war in anything but cold numbers. Canada lost 157 soldiers. Ottawa spent about $11 billion on the military mission and another $1.7 billion on humanitarian assistance.

With the benefit of hindsight, historians should be able to weigh these costs against Canada's ambitions and what it has and has not achieved here.

They will know, for example, whether U.S. and Afghan forces were able to consolidate the huge gains that Canadian troops have made against the Taliban in the past three years in Panjwaii.

And whether Canadian-trained Afghan troops were up to the responsibilities that are to be thrust upon them by the pullout over the next few years of American and British soldiers -who along with the Canadians and a few Australians, Danes and yes, the Estonians -have done almost all of the fighting and dying here while most of our western European allies hid in the corner.

It will also take much longer to know if Canada's initial successes with the Dahla Dam irrigation project, a national polio eradication campaign for children and the opening of dozens of schools across the province will lead to enduring improvements in the lives of Kandaharis.

To get a fair answer to the question of whether Canada's war has been worth it, it is also necessary to remember why the Chretien government sent troops to the far side of the world.

Canada came to the Indian Ocean with warships and aircraft and to Afghanistan with soldiers in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on Manhattan and the Pentagon because a fellow NATO member had been attacked by terrorists with a strong Afghan connection and had asked for assistance.

The goal was to rid Afghanistan of Islamists bent on global jihad and to ensure that the conditions in this country were such that lunatics with such ideas could never use this place as a safe haven.

It had nothing to do with the politically palatable sophistry that has often been employed over the past few years about making Afghanistan a democracy with good governance and a just legal system, or improving the dreadful lot of women, no matter how noble all these notions may be.

Still, for those Canadians who like their soldiers to wear blue berets and helmets and act on behalf of, and in stride with, the international community, the military response in Afghanistan was -and still is -a UN-sanctioned mission.

To put the stresses and impact of the Afghan war in perspective we must be mindful of the staggering costs in blood and treasure of Canada's two world wars and the Korean War.

This is not to minimize or trivialize the tragic effect that any of Canada's 157 deaths in Afghanistan have had on families and friends at home or on the military family.

But it is necessary to maintain a sense of proportion when assessing Canada's role in Afghanistan -which continues for another 33 months with a new, much smaller training mission in Kabul.

We are a society that likes quick, easy answers to important complicated questions, but a frank, balanced appraisal of Canada's Afghan war is not a subject for today or tomorrow.

However, my hunch is that when historians finally examine Canada's part in what happened in Afghanistan in the early years of this century the conclusion will be that the country made some mistakes but acquitted itself well.

And that what Canada has learned here will help prepare it for the challenges that inevitably lie ahead.

Matthew Fisher of Postmedia News is the only Canadian journalist based in Kandahar. He'll be leaving Afghanistan this week afters pending more than 900 days there since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, mostly spent with Canadian troops.
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

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