Canadians fought a war in Afghanistan.
asserted
Canadians → fight → Afghanistan
Why do we struggle to talk about it?
asserted
we → struggle → it
25 years later, Canada struggles to acknowledge the war it fought abroad
It's not much of a stretch to say the federal government has trouble saying the word Afghanistan.
asserted
government → struggle → word
A couple of weeks ago, late on a Friday, Defence Minister David McGuinty and Veterans Affairs Minister Jill McKnight issued a statement to quietly defuse what some in the veterans community might view as a Remembrance Day bomb.
uncertain
some → issue → bomb
They announced that a Senate bill (S-246) currently before the House of Commons — designating service in both the first Gulf War and Afghanistan as wartime service — would be the subject of public consultation in the coming months.
asserted
bill → announce → months
While it is most definitely about Afghanistan, the word Afghanistan does not appear anywhere in the 335-word joint statement.
asserted
word → appear → statement
In the eyes of Canadian law, at the the moment, the service of 40,000 troops over 13 years, the deaths of 158 of them, the wounding of an estimated 2,000 soldiers is reduced to the banal catch-all designation of "special duty area."
asserted
service → estimate → area
The fact the federal government doesn't recognize the Afghan war as a war — and needs to ask the public what it thinks — is jaw-dropping for many people, especially veterans.
asserted
it → recognize → people
"The Afghan mission was a war by every metric, and the current terminology of 'special duty area' rings hollow and judged against the life-and-death realities we faced on the ground," said retired colonel Mark Gasparotto, who led combat engineers during one of the bloodiest battles of the war, Operation Medusa.
asserted
who → ring → war
He spoke on Parliament Hill last week.
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He → speak → Hill
Those life-and-death realities are day-to-day realities for people like retired corporal Bruce Moncur.
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realities → retire → Moncur
There's no debating semantics for him because the war is etched into his body.
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war → be → body
He was nearly killed during Operation Medusa when an American warplane mistakenly strafed his position.
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warplane → kill → position
The attack left him with a catastrophic brain injury.
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attack → leave → injury
"I'm sitting there eating, and my fire team partner comes to sit next to me, Fraser Gill, and I'm eating, and I just remember being tossed in the air like a rag doll," Moncur recalled in a recent interview with CBC News.
Retired corporal Bruce Moncur in Afghanistan.
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Moncur → sit → Afghanistan
He was wounded by friendly fire in 2006.
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He → wound → 2006
"I landed and I got thrown down the mountain …
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I → land → mountain
I'll never forget the sight of the coagulating sand with the blood mixing together.
asserted
I → forget → blood
And I'm thinking, this is it.
asserted
this → think → ?
I'm probably going to die on this mountain in the middle of nowhere."
asserted
I → go → middle
Retired sergeant Matt Snoddon served multiple tours as a psychological warfare officer, meeting local Afghans and trying to convince them to support the government.
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Snoddon → retire → government
For him remembrance isn't something reserved for one day in November.
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remembrance → reserve → November
Asked to relate the toughest day he faced during the war, Snoddon paused for a long time before relating how he and other soldiers and medics scrambled one night to save a group of Afghan children horribly maimed in an accidental explosion.
asserted
he → ask → explosion
For the most part, the military itself and private organizations, such as the NATO Association of Canada, have been left to quietly mark significant anniversary events on their own this year, including the commemoration of Operation Medusa, the largest battle Canadians fought, in September.
asserted
Canadians → leave → September
Retired sergeant Matt Snoddon served multiple tours in Kandahar as a psychological warfare officer trying to convince local Afghans to support the local government.
asserted
Snoddon → retire → government
Increasingly, it seems Canada has left those who fought in the country's name to carry not only its wounds, but its memory.
asserted
who → seem → wounds
"You know, we can't ignore the fact that there is a price to pay now and through the next generations," Snoddon said.
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Snoddon → know → generations
"I and many others like me have been stuck with the bill for that.
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I → stick → that
And unfortunately my kids will have to pay a part of that bill and the people around me will have to pay part of the bill.
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people → have → bill
I think that can't be forgotten."
One of the hallmarks of the war that sticks with veterans is the cruelty the Taliban inflicted on ordinary Afghans.
asserted
Taliban → think → Afghans
Former Canadian commander — retired major-general Denis Thompson — recalled how in 2008 insurgents used a 10-year-old boy as a suicide bomber.
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insurgents → retire → bomber
"There was a lot of very cynical and vicious attacks," Thompson said, noting how the boy did not control his suicide vest and was remotely denotated by an old, nearby Taliban fighter as the child got close to a Canadian patrol.
asserted
child → be → patrol
"There are no limits, if you will, to one's imagination when they're coming up with ways to terrorize the population or to get at the security forces."
asserted
they → be → forces
It is fair to say, however, for many veterans Afghanistan risks becoming the war Canada has already forgotten as a collective institutional amnesia settles over most of Ottawa.
asserted
amnesia → say → Ottawa
This year saw a remarkable convergence of anniversaries.
asserted
year → see → anniversaries
It has been 25 years since Canadian troops first set foot in Afghanistan following 9/11, 20 years since the beginning of major combat operations, 20 years since the first female soldier was killed in combat, 20 years since Operations Medusa, 15 years since combat ended and five years since the South Asian country fell back into Taliban hands.
asserted
country → set → hands
And yet as those important milestones passed this year, there was mostly silence from Ottawa.
asserted
milestones → pass → Ottawa
Canadians were uniformly outraged when U.S. President Donald Trump blithely dismissed allied contributions to Afghanistan, including Canadian sacrifices.
asserted
Trump → outrage → sacrifices
"We have never really asked anything of them," Trump said in an interview last January.
asserted
Trump → ask → interview
"You know, they'll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan or this and that.
asserted
they → know → Afghanistan
…and 32 more, not listed.
The Aporia
