Canada in Afghanistan: Continuity and Clarity

Authors

  • Houchang Hassan Yari

Abstract

There are two myths about the Canadian mission in Afghanistan. The first relates to its nature by portraying the mission as peacekeeping. The misunderstanding that the public likes to believe is maintained by the media. According to the sec-ond myth, Canada sent its forces to Afghanistan so as not to take part in the in-vasion of Iraq by the Americans. This article demystifies these two perceptions by showing the combative nature of the mission as formulated by the Liberal government in 2002 on the one hand, and that Canadian military engagement in Afghanistan was an important gesture of solidarity with the US attacked on 9/11, on the other.

Author Biography

Houchang Hassan Yari

Houchang HASSAN-YARI is Professor and Head of the Department of Political and Economic Science at the Royal Military College of Canada. He is also Ad-junct Professor in the Department of History at Queen’s University and a Senior Fellow at, Queen’s Centre for International Relations.

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Published

2006-09-01

Issue

Section

Articles