Scott Gilmore: A mass rescue on that scale has been done before, and we owe it to those who believed and trusted us to do it again
Adnan R. Khan returns to Afghanistan’s formerly fraught southern region, where lessons from Canada’s failed mission more than a decade ago are inspiring America’s next steps
The National Post obtains an audit of Canadian foreign aid in Afghanistan that does not entirely flatter this country’s efforts.
Stages in the legislative process that make a bill law in the Canadian Parliament; ministers (not including the Prime Minister) on cabinet’s powerful Priorities and Planning committee; former political figures (not including sovereigns or social activists) memorialized in bronze around Parliament Hill—twelve is the number in each of these interesting categories. But for our purposes here, in this second annual stocktaking of the year just ending, it’s the 12 calendar months that matter. Pick just one political story for each page, and 2011’s kaleidoscope might just take a turn from jumbled to intelligible.
From 2011: Without 9/11, Jody Mitic wouldn’t have lost his legs in a blast, met the love of his life and had his daughter
In the embattled region, a legacy of respect, but no peace
Would a Taliban prisoner by any other name seem just as evil?
The Canadian Press reviews some of what was disclosed in yesterday’s document release.
We have paid fairly constant attention to the quarterly Afghanistan progress reports the federal government has submitted since special advisor John Manley recommended greater transparency (along with other things) in 2008. The tale has been pretty consistent, and bleak: progress against limited, quantifiable goals on specific projects, in a general context of worsening violence and despair. It wouldn’t have been too unfair to summarize most of these reports as, “Construction continues on schedule, but the locals who haven’t died yet are terrified that they’ll be next.”
Michael Petrou on reporting from Kandahar
The governor of Kandahar questions Stephen Harper’s contention that “Afghanistan is no longer a threat to the world.”
In spite of the impending pullout, Canadian troops remain committed to their mission