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Analysis: Canada's Afghan Jitters

Council on Foreign Relations

April 24, 2007
Prepared by: Lionel Beehner

A spike in military casualties, a political debate over proposed withdrawal timetables, and plummeting public support for the war effort—all these factors fuel a partisan debate in the capital. Yet the capital in question is Ottawa, not Washington, and the war in question is not Iraq but Afghanistan. Increasingly, Canada’s opposition Liberals seek the exit door (NYT) for Canadian troops there, despite the wishes of the government. As in America, Canadian lawmakers face a public that has turned increasingly anti-war in recent months as they grope for an exit strategy from Afghanistan. Polls show two-thirds of the Canadian population favor a negotiated settlement that would bring the troops home by February 2009, while only a slim majority currently support Canada’s role in Afghanistan.

Opposition to the war reached a crescendo after the deaths last week of eight Canadians in Afghanistan. Unlike in the United States, Canadian television is allowed to broadcast the funerals of fallen soldiers, and these broadcasts have struck home (CBC). Officials in Ottawa say other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), especially the Europeans, should shoulder more of a burden in Afghanistan. Since 2002, Canada has suffered over fifty casualties (ICasualties.org), including one diplomat, ranking it second after the United States. Aside from the human costs of war, Afghanistan has emerged as Canada’s biggest recipient of bilateral development aid, with over $600 million allocated since 2001 (mostly toward microfinance, education, and reconstruction projects).

Some Canadians have expressed concern that the military mission in Afghanistan diverges from the Canadian military’s historic role as an altruistic peacekeeper. Eric Wagner of Ontario-based Queens University, writing in the Canadian Military Journal, debunks this so-called “peacekeeping myth.”

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2007 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.