As Canadian troops complete their final combat mission before departing Kandahar officially next month I find myself struggling with very mixed feelings about our war effort there.
The widely respected (and Canadian-supported) International Crisis Group’s latest report on Afghanistan says: “The exit strategy sounds fairly simple: Try to pound the Taliban, build support by protecting civilians, lure disillusioned Taliban over to the government, expand access to basis services and create resilient security forces. The problem is that none of this is working.”