Deaths of 100 Canadian soldiers turn nation's focus back to Afghan mission
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Do Not give your condolences because it means nothing to you at all.
You do not have anyone in Afghanistan so you don't know the pan
PETAWAWA, Ont. — As he offered condolences to the loved ones of three Canadian soldiers who died Friday in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made no mention of a grim benchmark - 100 troops killed since the start of the Afghan mission in 2002.
He was there, after all, to spread Christmas cheer, not to dwell on the tragic but inevitable consequences of armed conflict.
But the dark context surrounding Canada's latest military casualties gave extra weight to Harper's words, to the uncharacteristic quaver in his voice, to the taut-faced troops who flanked the podium and to the thunderous ovation they offered their embattled PM.
"I never feel able to put the depths of my feelings at time like this into adequate words," Harper said.
"These are very special people who have put their lives on the line in the service of their fellow human beings and in their devotion to our country.
"It is because of them now and throughout our history that we are able to celebrate our Christmas in such peace and prosperity. It is because of them that we have this wonderful country. It is their gift to us."
The latest deaths, coming as they did in the midst of an unprecedented parliamentary crisis of Harper's own making, are likely to take the focus of a distracted nation back to the progress - or lack thereof - that Canada has made in Afghanistan over the last seven years.
The soldiers - Cpl. Mark Robert McLaren, Pte. Demetrios Diplaros and Warrant Officer Robert John Wilson - were in an armoured vehicle in the Arghandab district, west of Kandahar city, when they struck an improvised explosive device.
Pte. Roch Gauthier, an Ottawa native serving with 2 Service Battalion, said combat deaths are sad and hard, "but it's a job we volunteer to do and we'll push on and make sure that they're never forgotten."
Gauthier said the 100th Canadian military death in Afghanistan may be a milestone for some, "but people grieve differently."
"For people close to them, it will be much more than a milestone. It's a brother."
Cpl. Joel Pruden, 20, from Windsor, Ont., is slated to go to Kandahar in July. He said 100 is just another number.
"You can't really put a number on it," Pruden said. "Everyone's doing their part, everyone's doing their job and it's good to see we're still over there. Even though we have lost a number of soldiers."
"Personally, I don't think there should be a limit to the number of people we lose. One is too many, 100 is too many, but everybody knows the risk."
Military historian Jack Granatstein said he hopes the renewed focus on the Afghan mission prompts Canadians to confront some of the more obvious realities of armed conflict.
"This is a war," Granatstein said. "We simply must expect casualties in war."
Canada sent troops to Afghanistan in a show of solidarity with the Americans after the attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. Among nearly 3,000 people killed that day were 24 Canadians.
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Taliban, an extremist movement that had been in government in Afghanistan, allowed al-Qaida to operate training camps in the country.
"The reason we're in Afghanistan today is that's where the Taliban supported al-Qaida as they hatched up the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States," Bill Graham, a former Liberal foreign affairs and defence minister who played a key role in decisions to deploy Canadian troops, said in an interview early this year.
"We have to help the Americans have a sense that Canada is part of their security solution," Graham said.
But it was not purely an American effort. The UN Security Council condemned the Taliban and supported an international plan to establish a new Afghan government.
While a multinational coalition was being assembled, U.S. forces backed an anti-Taliban alliance in Afghanistan in driving the Taliban from power. While they relinquished the major cities, Taliban militants melted into the population and countryside to fight another day.
After absorbing the bombardment and shelling of the U.S.-led offensive, the Taliban hoped to gradually regroup and reassert their grip on large swaths of the countryside that remained outside the authority of the fledgling Kabul government. They criss-crossed the porous border to get reinforcements and replenishment from the lawless frontier areas of Pakistan.
It was in this context that the first contingent of Canadian troops arrived in Kandahar in February 2002, marking the beginning of Canada's military mission.
Over the years, Canada had twice scaled back its military presence in the country. For a period, Canadians were stationed in Kabul, the capital, as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, ISAF.
But at the beginning of 2006, Canada took on the challenging task of leading NATO's effort to establish security in Kandahar province, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban movement.
The Canadian contingent, involving some 2,500 troops and an increasing array of armoured vehicles, tanks and artillery pieces, launched a series of major offensive to secure insurgent-held areas.
The Taliban proved an elusive and stubborn enemy, frequently retaking lost ground after the Canadians hand it over to Afghan government forces.
The insurgents have clashed head-on from time to time with the Canadians and inflicted some casualties.
But far more often, their weapon of choice has been improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. These are either suicide attackers using speeding, explosives-laden vehicles; or bombs left by the roadside to get at Canadians in their hardened armoured vehicles.
The death toll in Afghanistan is not easily comparable to losses in other wars.
In the First World War, 68,000 Canadian soldiers were killed - at a time when the country's population was only seven million. In the Second World War, Canada lost 42,000 military personnel. Roughly 500 Canadians died in the Korean War.
But those wars of the 20th century pitted large armies against one another on open fields and beaches. Vimy Ridge and D-Day involved valour and bloodshed on a gigantic scale.
In contrast, the 21st century conflict in Afghanistan has largely been an anti-insurgency mission.
It has been waged along the dried river valleys and narrow alleyways among mud walls and poppy fields, against an enemy often unseen or indistinguishable from civilians once as he drops his weapons.
A truer measure of Canada's sacrifice in Afghanistan is against the dozens of coalition countries that also have troops in the country.
Only the United States and Britain have suffered more fatalities - at least 556 Americans and 125 Britons.
But there are 33,000 U.S. troops and 7,800 British soldiers in Afghanistan - compared with Canada's 2,500.
