Failed, Failed, Failed

Pat Stogran – retired colonel, who led the first Canadian combat contingent in Afghanistan in 2002 and later served as Canada's first Veterans Ombudsman where he was a champion of better treatment for wounded soldiers speaks :-

WAS THE WAR WORTH THE COST? – 'Despite the heroic efforts of Canadian Forces men and women, and the great respect they deservedly won for our nation, our mission in Kandahar was definitely not worth the cost of over 150 Canadian lives lost and countless others destroyed by the fallout of war, let alone the tens of thousands of Afghan people and other coalition forces who have also been killed.'

WHAT WAS ACHIEVED? – 'Claims by ministers and mandarins of great accomplishments are impossible to verify. At best there is a thin veneer of progress concealing an Afghan society still tormented by smuggling, extortion, murder, intimidation and the narcotics trade. Kandahar will undoubtedly fall back into the hands of the Taliban. And because we demonized the Taliban as “murderers and scumbags,” Canada likely alienated itself from moderate factions and lost any credibility to possibly influence a peaceful transition to a more moderate form of government.'