To the lament of a single bagpiper, Canadians took leave of Afghanistan this past week. We have been aware of being involved since the winter of 2001 when then Defence Minister Art Eggleton admitted that there were Canadian troops fighting in Kandahar Province. For 12 years, Canadian military fought in a war that they could not win.
And that was why there were no politicians to honour the small cadre of Canadian military and RCMP who lowered the Canadian flag in Kandahar for the last time. There is no popularity for this war left in Canada. World events are passing Afghanistan by and only the Canadian Ambassador was there to take the flag .
The regret is that for every Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorist Canadian soldiers killed, more were recruited in the extremist madrasa schools of Pakistan. And Canadians killed or wounded left their blood soaking into the ground that still grows opium poppies for the world. Canada’s shame was not that we did not try—oh, how we tried—but we made no difference. Along with our NATO allies, Canadians searched fruitlessly for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. All the time, he was doing his evil while comfortably housed across the border in Pakistan.
At least Canadians made more friends than the British did in 1842 when some 16,000 British and Indians that had marched so bravely up the Khyber Pass were slaughtered coming back down the pass in their attempt to escape from Kabul. Afghanistan history tells us that Afghans have been feasting on foreign armies rations for thousands of years.
We can only hope the Afghan soldiers Canadians trained will live longer for that training. The schools we built will probably just deteriorate with time. Hopefully, the friendships Canadians made will live on in the oral history of the time.
But Canada’s history will give our uniformed men and women short shrift. By shutting down veteran’s support offices, trying to get rid of the problems with buy-outs and their lack of interest, the Conservative government has once again shown their ruthless edge.
As an aide worker left behind in Afghanistan noted on Tom Clark’s West Block show on Global, Sunday. The government is cutting up the armoured troop carriers for scrap. Canada is not coming back.
-30-
Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]