Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan is an issue that resonates throughout the country and touches on our history, our culture, our attitudes towards the military, our feelings about our neighbours to the south, the very question of how we define ourselves as Canadians.
We've been involved in Afghanistan since the fall of 2001, when, in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11th, the United States and its NATO allies attacked the country seeking to oust the Taliban Government, destroy Al Qaeda and capture Osama Bin Laden. The actual war went quickly and for a moment all the nations involved believed creating peace and re-building the country would go as smoothly.
As we approach the 6th anniversary of the start of the war, our understanding of how easy peace and reconstruction is has undergone a drastic revision. Complicating our views on the war, is the harsh reality that Canadians are dying.
It was this combination of human tragedy, political urgency and nation wide confusion arising from our involvement in Afghanistan that encouraged the Sunday Edition to go to Ottawa on September 17, 2007 (broadcast September 23, 2007) to hold a public forum we called Afghanistan - What Are We Doing There? It was recorded before an audience at Tabaret Hall on the campus of the University of Ottawa (pictured above).
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