The fall and the beginning: Canada in Afghanistan

Nearly 20 years later, the Americans and their allies departed, leaving the Afghan government to face a resurgent Taliban. Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, after they swept swiftly and almost unopposed across the country.

Canadian veterans and journalists watched in shock as Afghans clung to the landing gear of planes taking off at Hamid Karzai International Airport, desperate to escape.

Captain Dennis LeBlanc was deployed twice to Afghanistan. He recalls watching the chaos and worrying about the fate of Afghanistan: “I gotta admit, it was tough, because we had made some friendships with interpreters, various soldiers that were over there. You know, I consider them comrades as well. And I have no idea what happened to them.”

To understand the ultimate failure of the U.S. and NATO efforts to secure Afghanistan, we return to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. These watershed events initiated the so-called Global War on Terror and led to Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan.

Nineteen terrorists hijacked airliners and used them to destroy both towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and damage the Pentagon in Washington. A fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania after the passengers got word of the first attacks and fought back. The hijackers killed 2,977 people, including 24 Canadians.

Canada was quick to offer support to our southern neighbour. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien stated. “Together with our allies, we will defy and defeat the threat that terrorism poses to all civilized nations. Mr. Ambassador, we will be with the United States every step of the way — as friends, as neighbours, as family.”

North American airspace closed to commercial air traffic. This stranded thousands of Americans in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador. They received support and temporary housing from local communities.

In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, NATO invoked Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. This provision is dedicated to mutual defence. An attack on any member is considered an attack on all, and they are committed to respond.

Afghanistan has a long history of resisting foreign aggression. The British tried and failed to conquer it in the 19th century. The Soviet Union fought there for a decade. The war killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions more, and ended with their retreat in 1989.

The U.S. government assisted the USSR’s many opponents in Afghanistan. American money and weapons helped a variety of Afghan factions. This included the “mujahideen,” among whom were various Islamist militant groups.

The initial U.S. effort involved working with anti-Taliban factions, notably the Northern Alliance. The CIA and U.S. Special Forces had been operating in Afghanistan since a couple of weeks after 9/11, laying the groundwork for invasion.

Overt military operations began on October 7, 2001, with dozens of airstrikes across the country. Several days of bomb, missile and drone attacks followed. Troops began to arrive in greater numbers as of October 19.

In December 2001, a group of Afghan and world leaders gathered in Bonn, Germany, to negotiate a political path forward for Afghanistan.

Hamid Karzai, leader of the Pashtun opposition to the Taliban, was the consensus choice. He became chairman of the new interim national administration. Next steps were to draft a constitution and prepare for elections.

The Bonn Agreement also laid the foundation for the UN-authorized (and later NATO-led) International Security Assistance Force. This multinational military effort would remain in Afghanistan until 2014.

In a remarkably short time, the Taliban had been unseated, al-Qaeda was scattered, and a democratic framework was coming into being.

For Canada, the celebrations in Bonn served as a preface for its soldiers’ involvement in Afghanistan. A battlegroup led by the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry began preparing. They would deploy to Kandahar, the Taliban’s original seat of power, in early 2002.

Canada would go on to fight in Afghanistan for 13 years. It became our longest war.