Kandahar Tour: The Turning Point in Canada's Afghan Mission

by Lee Windsor, David Charters

"Our Mission was the people of Kandahar and keeping the Taliban from interfering with rebuilding. When we did use force, we had to be discriminate Killing innocent civilians would be mission failure. I had the A-Team ad could not make it work with lesser men and women." - Lieutenant-Colonel rob Walker, Commanding Officer, 2RCR Battlegroup"Our job is to create a functional government that earns the respect of its population. The people of Kandahar are not asking for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They want Canada's peace, order, and good government. We're getting there. But it takes time, Thankfully Afghans are more patient than people back home." - Gavin Buchan, Director, Foreign Affairs, Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team, 2006-07"My soliders got to know every inch of Zharey District and its people. It was our back-yard. We knew it better than the Taliban, especially the foreign fighters. People learned to trust us and started staying in their homes while we rant he enemy out of town." - Major David Quick, India Company

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 23, 2009

Reviews

[Sheri Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a unique version of events in Afghanistan! I understand so much more now. This is so much more in-depth and all encompassing than the snippets you get from the news. This book leaves me proud to be a Canadian and our efforts to make Afghanistan a better place for it's population to live in. I wish more the good that we did there was reported in our news so that our citizens would feel more proud of our Canadian Armed Forces. Yes Canadian soldiers lost their lives but what a noble cause. One thing is for sure, the world would be a better place without the Taliban and their illiterate followers.

[Mike Goberis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know where he got his info, but it's B.S. I was there when 22B hit the IED, and I was sent to ensure it was safe by doing 20's around the vehicle. And I helped remove the dead and check for survivors with the vehicles gunner.

Why would a Pl Comd leap from his vehicle when he can delegate to a Cpl? Which is what he did...

Usually bull crap where officers take a the credit.

[Glenn Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still reading, but I'm enjoying it a lot. Very thoughtful summary of the events leading up to Task Force 1-07's arrival in Kandahar. I'm learning lots about the situation in 2007 and realizing that I don't really know what happened after Operation Medusa (about which a fair bit has already been written).

I am impressed by the description of the training that the task force underwent in Canada. The soldiers, police, diplomats and aid workers did not get off the plane and start improvising. There was a plan -- and a good one, by all accounts -- and they stuck to it. Canada has much to be proud of in Kandahar.

It could have gone the other way. For a devastating indictment of how things went wrong for the British in next-door Helmand province, see James Meek's comments on British Afghanistan books in the London Review of Books.

[Michelle Hart]

Complicated read. Might not finish.