What the Afghanistan mission teaches Canada
| Published date | 01 March 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020702017694616 |
| Date | 01 March 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Lessons of History |
International Journal
2017, Vol. 72(1) 131–141
!The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0020702017694616
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Lessons of History
What the Afghanistan
mission teaches Canada
Stephen M. Saideman
Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
Abstract
This paper considers some of the lessons that can be drawn from Canada’s experience
in Afghanistan. It focuses not just on the military but also on the rest of the government,
two prime ministers, the opposition, the media, and the public. While the primary
lesson might be ‘‘do not do this kind of thing again,’’ there are other lessons to draw
that apply to Canada’s foreign and defence policies every day.
Keywords
Canadian Armed Forces, Afghanistan, Kandahar, Whole of Government
While the Canadian mission in Afghanistan is still recent history, it may soon be
forgotten, with Canadian officials possibly learning only one lesson: not to do it
again. The entire mission, but especially the time in Kandahar, was the most intense,
most expensive, and most political of Canada’s interventions since Korea. It would be
a mistake to leave behind the lessons we can draw. Because the entire Canadian
government, the media, and the public were seized with this effort for more than a
decade, it will at least implicitly shape how Canadians think about future interven-
tions, including whether they should occur at all. Given the opportunity to learn
many conflicting lessons from a single event, which ones will Canadians learn?
Learning requires assessing what went right and what went wrong and figuring
out the dynamics that produced both the good and the bad. A key obstacle has
been the reluctance of the Canadian government to face the music. Admitting
mistakes opens a government up to opposition criticism, so governments loath
to do that. The Harper government did start a lessons learned exercise across
the agencies that were involved in the Afghanistan effort, but the resulting analysis
has not been disseminated inside or outside the government. Thus, the purpose of
this article is to identify some lessons we can draw from the Canadian experience in
Afghanistan that apply not just to the big interventions but to the general conduct
Corresponding author:
Stephen M. Saideman NPSIA, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6,
CANADA.
Email: steve_saideman@carleton.ca
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