The Post takes a comprehensive year-by-year look at Canada’s presence in Afghanistan since 2001.
Jan. 3
The results of an analysis of Question Period transcripts revealed that the opposition questioned the government about Canada’s mission in Afghanistan and government ethics more than any other subjects in 2010.
Jan. 9
Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Moritsugu, the leader of the mission transition and liaison team for the Canadian Forces, says pulling Canada’s almost 3,000 soldiers out of Afghanistan this year will cost “lots of hundred of millions of dollars.” A more precise price tag is not available for Canada’s largest military pullout since the Korean conflict in 1950. “It’s like moving a very large village or small town, lock, stock and barrel,” said Lt.-Col. Moritsugu. “We have to clean, repair and pack everything up and move it halfway around the world.”
Feb. 10
Omar Khadr signs a prisoner transfer application, bringing him one step closer to returning to Canada. The 24-year-old, who was arrested when he was 15, admitted to five war crimes, including murder in the death of a U.S. serviceman, as part of a plea deal that guaranteed he would spend a maximum one more year in detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Feb. 13
Two senior Canadian generals will oversee NATO’s multi-billion dollar training programmes tasked with ensuring that Afghan security forces are ready to assume control from alliance forces by the end of 2014.
Feb. 12
A 28-year-old Taliban field commander who says he fought numerous battles against Canadian troops, surrenders to Afghan authorities, along with 30 of his men. “Among the Taliban, there are commanders now who are tired and want to join the peace process,” said Haji Toorjan after he turned over his weapons at a ceremony in Kandahar city. “The government should reach them out and meet their demands, which are not high: protection, shelter and jobs.” He said the Taliban paid its fighters nothing, but provided food, weapons and shelter across the border in Pakistan.
Feb. 27
The Foreign Affairs Department says the young Canadian traveller, Colin Rutherford, disappeared while visiting Afghanistan to learn Pashto, the native tongue of the Taliban. Insurgents say they have captured a Canadian “secret agent” by the same name.
March 6
Afghanistan begins to open up its mining industry for foreign investment to allow the country to capitalize on its vast resource wealth. The government offers guaranteed security and a favourable tax regime at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference. A New York Times report released last June stated that the U.S. had identified nearly US$1-trillion worth of minerals in the country. “[Mining] is a path to economic sovereignty for the Afghan people,” said Afghan Mining Minister Wahidullah Shahrani.
March 15
The RCMP issues arrest warrants for two former University of Manitoba students, Ferid Imam, 30, and Maiwand Yar, 27, who left Canada four years ago to allegedly attend terrorist training in Pakistan. The same day, the U.S. unseals an indictment charging Mr. Imam with playing a role in a failed al-Qaeda plot to bomb New York subways in 2009. The pair never used the return portion of their flight tickets.
March 22
Afghan President Hamid Karzai announces the first seven areas where Afghan forces will assume primary responsibility for security, beginning in July. It is the initial phase of a transfer-of-power strategy that will see NATO troops move to a support role before allowing Afghan forces to assume complete control of the country by 2014. “The Afghan nation doesn’t want the defence of this country to be in the hands of others any more,” said Mr. Karzai.
April 12
The Ottawa Citizen reports that a portion of the estimated 950 Canadian soldiers committed to the mission to train Afghan police and the army will operate out of the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The Harper government had previously announced the training mission would not involve combat and would be centred on the capital city of Kabul. Mazar-i-Sharif was the site of an April 1 attack, in response to a U.S. pastor burning the Koran in Florida, that left seven United Nations staff and five Afghans dead.
April 25
Sixty-five of the 488 prisoners detained at Sarpoza jail in Kandahar escape through a tunnel dug by the Taliban. The Taliban claim as many as 541 escaped. Afghan authorities and foreign troops launch a manhunt and question security at the prison.
National Post in Afghanistan: Bad news reached us Monday morning in Panjwaii district, where Richard Johnson and I continue to move about with Canadian troops. In Kandahar city, we learned, 476 inmates escaped from the Afghan-run Sarpoza prison, where Taliban insurgents and others are held. Afghan reporters in the city have filed stories quoting a Taliban source claiming responsibility for the prison break. Read the full story.
May 1
U.S. President Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, was killed in an American-led operation in a mansion outside Islamabad, Pakistan. “The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done,” said former U.S. President George W. Bush.
National Post in Afghanistan: “It’s a great day, Bin Laden being dead and all,” said an American civilian Monday morning; she was standing in line at a coffee joint on the famous boardwalk at Kandahar Air Field. Read the full story.
May 2
Prime Minister Stephen Harper wins his first majority Conservative government in the 41st Canadian general election.
National Post in Afghanistan: Taliban insurgents launched a string of coordinated suicide and IED attacks on Kandahar city Saturday, purportedly in retaliation to the U.S. commando raid almost seven days ago that killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. Read the full story.
May 8
National Post in Afghanistan: Colin Rutherford, a 26-year-old Canadian civilian taken hostage in October by “Mujahideen” kidnappers in Ghazni province, central Afghanistan, appears healthy, rational and calm while speaking in a brief video released Sunday on a pro-jihadist website. Read the full story.
May 13
Lieutenant-General Peter Devlin says repairing and repatriating the large quantities of gear at the end of the combat mission in Afghanistan is a complex undertaking that will likely impede Canada’s ability to deploy combat forces overseas until November 2012.
May 30
Mr. Harper visits Canadian troops in Kandahar to thank them for their contribution to the Afghan war that has already lasted longer than the combined number of years that Canadians fought in the First and Second World Wars. “Let no one forget it! My friends, you have done exceptionally well. On behalf of all Canadians, I salute you.”
June 8
Four hundred Canadian soldiers gather at a sunset memorial in Masum Gar to commemorate the 156 troops who died during the Afghan mission.
Fallen soldiers: Corporal Yannick Scherrer, 24, of the 1er Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment died in an improvised explosive device blast March 27; Bombardier Karl Manning, 31, of the 5e Régiment d’artillerie légère du Canada died in a non-combat related incident May 27.
Source: National Post
Jan. 3
The results of an analysis of Question Period transcripts revealed that the opposition questioned the government about Canada’s mission in Afghanistan and government ethics more than any other subjects in 2010.
Jan. 9
Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Moritsugu, the leader of the mission transition and liaison team for the Canadian Forces, says pulling Canada’s almost 3,000 soldiers out of Afghanistan this year will cost “lots of hundred of millions of dollars.” A more precise price tag is not available for Canada’s largest military pullout since the Korean conflict in 1950. “It’s like moving a very large village or small town, lock, stock and barrel,” said Lt.-Col. Moritsugu. “We have to clean, repair and pack everything up and move it halfway around the world.”
Feb. 10
Omar Khadr signs a prisoner transfer application, bringing him one step closer to returning to Canada. The 24-year-old, who was arrested when he was 15, admitted to five war crimes, including murder in the death of a U.S. serviceman, as part of a plea deal that guaranteed he would spend a maximum one more year in detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Feb. 13
Two senior Canadian generals will oversee NATO’s multi-billion dollar training programmes tasked with ensuring that Afghan security forces are ready to assume control from alliance forces by the end of 2014.
Feb. 12
A 28-year-old Taliban field commander who says he fought numerous battles against Canadian troops, surrenders to Afghan authorities, along with 30 of his men. “Among the Taliban, there are commanders now who are tired and want to join the peace process,” said Haji Toorjan after he turned over his weapons at a ceremony in Kandahar city. “The government should reach them out and meet their demands, which are not high: protection, shelter and jobs.” He said the Taliban paid its fighters nothing, but provided food, weapons and shelter across the border in Pakistan.
Feb. 27
The Foreign Affairs Department says the young Canadian traveller, Colin Rutherford, disappeared while visiting Afghanistan to learn Pashto, the native tongue of the Taliban. Insurgents say they have captured a Canadian “secret agent” by the same name.
March 6
Afghanistan begins to open up its mining industry for foreign investment to allow the country to capitalize on its vast resource wealth. The government offers guaranteed security and a favourable tax regime at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference. A New York Times report released last June stated that the U.S. had identified nearly US$1-trillion worth of minerals in the country. “[Mining] is a path to economic sovereignty for the Afghan people,” said Afghan Mining Minister Wahidullah Shahrani.
March 15
The RCMP issues arrest warrants for two former University of Manitoba students, Ferid Imam, 30, and Maiwand Yar, 27, who left Canada four years ago to allegedly attend terrorist training in Pakistan. The same day, the U.S. unseals an indictment charging Mr. Imam with playing a role in a failed al-Qaeda plot to bomb New York subways in 2009. The pair never used the return portion of their flight tickets.
March 22
Afghan President Hamid Karzai announces the first seven areas where Afghan forces will assume primary responsibility for security, beginning in July. It is the initial phase of a transfer-of-power strategy that will see NATO troops move to a support role before allowing Afghan forces to assume complete control of the country by 2014. “The Afghan nation doesn’t want the defence of this country to be in the hands of others any more,” said Mr. Karzai.
April 12
The Ottawa Citizen reports that a portion of the estimated 950 Canadian soldiers committed to the mission to train Afghan police and the army will operate out of the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The Harper government had previously announced the training mission would not involve combat and would be centred on the capital city of Kabul. Mazar-i-Sharif was the site of an April 1 attack, in response to a U.S. pastor burning the Koran in Florida, that left seven United Nations staff and five Afghans dead.
April 25
Sixty-five of the 488 prisoners detained at Sarpoza jail in Kandahar escape through a tunnel dug by the Taliban. The Taliban claim as many as 541 escaped. Afghan authorities and foreign troops launch a manhunt and question security at the prison.
National Post in Afghanistan: Bad news reached us Monday morning in Panjwaii district, where Richard Johnson and I continue to move about with Canadian troops. In Kandahar city, we learned, 476 inmates escaped from the Afghan-run Sarpoza prison, where Taliban insurgents and others are held. Afghan reporters in the city have filed stories quoting a Taliban source claiming responsibility for the prison break. Read the full story.
May 1
U.S. President Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, was killed in an American-led operation in a mansion outside Islamabad, Pakistan. “The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done,” said former U.S. President George W. Bush.
National Post in Afghanistan: “It’s a great day, Bin Laden being dead and all,” said an American civilian Monday morning; she was standing in line at a coffee joint on the famous boardwalk at Kandahar Air Field. Read the full story.
May 2
Prime Minister Stephen Harper wins his first majority Conservative government in the 41st Canadian general election.
National Post in Afghanistan: Taliban insurgents launched a string of coordinated suicide and IED attacks on Kandahar city Saturday, purportedly in retaliation to the U.S. commando raid almost seven days ago that killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. Read the full story.
May 8
National Post in Afghanistan: Colin Rutherford, a 26-year-old Canadian civilian taken hostage in October by “Mujahideen” kidnappers in Ghazni province, central Afghanistan, appears healthy, rational and calm while speaking in a brief video released Sunday on a pro-jihadist website. Read the full story.
May 13
Lieutenant-General Peter Devlin says repairing and repatriating the large quantities of gear at the end of the combat mission in Afghanistan is a complex undertaking that will likely impede Canada’s ability to deploy combat forces overseas until November 2012.
May 30
Mr. Harper visits Canadian troops in Kandahar to thank them for their contribution to the Afghan war that has already lasted longer than the combined number of years that Canadians fought in the First and Second World Wars. “Let no one forget it! My friends, you have done exceptionally well. On behalf of all Canadians, I salute you.”
June 8
Four hundred Canadian soldiers gather at a sunset memorial in Masum Gar to commemorate the 156 troops who died during the Afghan mission.
Fallen soldiers: Corporal Yannick Scherrer, 24, of the 1er Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment died in an improvised explosive device blast March 27; Bombardier Karl Manning, 31, of the 5e Régiment d’artillerie légère du Canada died in a non-combat related incident May 27.
Source: National Post
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