Some moments call for plain language. Evaluating the chaotic end to western involvement in Afghanistan is one of those moments.
The Canadian and U.K. parliaments recently delivered committee reports on the war in Afghanistan and the tumultuous withdrawal of Western forces. Only one of them offers a searing example of the kind of brutal self-reflection that is supposed to be at heart of our democratic system.
“The international withdrawal from Afghanistan has been a disaster in terms of planning, execution and consequences for the U.K.’s wider interests,” wrote the British foreign affairs committee in its final report, released May 22, 2022.
“It was a betrayal of our partners in the country and, worst of all, undermined the security of the United Kingdom by encouraging our enemies to act against us.”
And that was just the first two sentences of a blistering 60-page report that unflinchingly dissected Britain’s evacuation efforts and the way Afghanistan’s allies left it to its fate.
Western military involvement in Afghanistan ended in August 2021 when allied nations, led by the U.S., completed their withdrawal.
The two-week airlift that removed Western troops from the country brought with it scenes of desperation and horror. In the early days, people desperate to flee Taliban rule flooded the airport tarmac in Kabul and some fell to their deaths after clinging to departing aircraft.
“The former head of the armed forces told us that the decision to withdraw was ‘strategically illiterate and morally bankrupt,’ while the former National Security Adviser has called it ‘a bad policy, badly implemented,” said the British foreign affairs committee report. “It is an act of strategic self-harm.'”
In this image provided by the U.S. Marine Corps, a Canadian coalition forces member walks through an evacuation control checkpoint during ongoing evacuations at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021. (Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla/U.S. Marine Corps/The Associated Press)
The U.K. committee report, endorsed by members of both the governing and opposition parties, went on to say that the decision to leave Afghanistan “damaged the reputation of the U.K. and its allies, and will affect the [U.K.] government’s ability to achieve its foreign policy goals for years to come.”
That kind of frank assessment seems absent from the Canadian parliamentary report.
In fairness, two former Canadian generals, other former members of the military and officials from humanitarian agencies delivered candid and clear-eyed testimony to Canada’s Special Committee on Afghanistan over the last several months.
‘Greater prudence’
But when it came time for a committee of Canadian parliamentarians to speak truth to power, the result was decidedly more restrained.
“Even if the exact point at which the Taliban’s ascendancy became inevitable could not have been predicted with certainty, the Special Committee believes that greater prudence — and, therefore, a more proactive approach — was warranted in response to Afghanistan’s clearly worsening trajectory,” reads the assessment of the Special Committee on Afghanistan — buried on page 38 of its 86-page report, which was tabled with little fanfare last week.
While the phrase “greater prudence” might sound like fighting words to the Ottawa bureaucracy, it’s likely cold comfort to the thousands of Afghans who believed in what countries like Canada were doing in Afghanistan and who have had to flee for their lives. Some of them are still on the run.
“Testimony underscored the peril facing those who were associated with the international coalition. Given the Taliban’s history and the long campaign it fought against coalition forces and the Afghan republic, the risks were known,” the Canadian parliamentary report said.
A U.S. Marine checks a woman as she goes through the Evacuation Control Center (ECC) during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, August 28, 2021. (U.S. Marine Corps/Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla/Handout/Reuters)
The call for “greater prudence” also may be a bitter pill to swallow for tens of thousands of military and non-military Canadians whose lives were forever altered by more than dozen years of warfare.
“The Special Committee acknowledges the complexities and danger involved with the operation of the air bridge from Kabul, and it commends those who made it possible,” the Canadian parliamentary report said.
“At the same time, it believes that, long before 15 August 2021, the risks associated with the Taliban should have compelled greater urgency and a more systematic policy and planning effort across the Canadian government to help people reach safety before it became much harder to do so.”
No excuses
It’s a typical Canadian approach — polite and understated — to a humanitarian catastrophe.
The Canadian House of Commons committee report dwells on the “machinery [of] government” and its systemic failures while pointedly avoiding passing judgment or pointing fingers — a sharp contrast with the tone of the report out of the U.K.
“There were systemic failures of intelligence, diplomacy, planning and preparation which raise questions about machinery of Government, principally the National Security Council,” said the U.K. Parliament report. “The U.K. government failed effectively to shape or respond to Washington’s decision to withdraw, despite having had 18 months’ notice.”
The U.K. report adds that even if other allies struggled to predict the speed of the Taliban takeover, “the fact that this came as a surprise to many, including the militants themselves, does not excuse the U.K.’s failures, but rather makes it more urgent to identify where its intelligence-gathering, analysis and planning fell short.”
You find no such blunt stock-taking in the Canadian report.
In fact, the Canadian special committee suggested that Global Affairs, the Department of National Defence and Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada appeared to have taken steps to insulate themselves from criticism.
“Some departments have conducted an internal lessons-learned exercise or after-action review,” said the Canadian parliamentary report.
“However, the results of those exercises were not communicated to the Special Committee, and it was not clear that a formal, comprehensive and whole-of-government review has been completed.”
When the U.K. committee found itself being stonewalled — notably on questions related to the evacuation of a British charity for homeless animals from Afghanistan — it didn’t hesitate to call out the British Foreign Office in its final report over a lack of transparency.
“The FCDO has repeatedly given us answers that, in our judgment, are at best intentionally evasive and often deliberately misleading,” the U.K. report said.
Federal law interfering with aid delivery, MPs hear
Aside from examining the evacuation and resettlement of Afghan refugees, the Canadian parliamentary committee heard from humanitarian groups saying federal anti-terror legislation stands in the way of delivering aid to Afghanistan — where the economy has collapsed and more than three-quarters of the population will soon be below the poverty line.
The Taliban is on Canada’s list of terrorist entities and the prevailing view is that indirect payments to Afghanistan in any form would risk violating the Criminal Code.
Canada is alone among its allies in not carving out an exemption for charitable work.
It’s here that the Canadian Commons committee came closest to an admonishment.
“The Special Committee wants to communicate that it does not believe that Canada taking its own policy, regulatory and legislative steps to facilitate legitimate humanitarian action would equate to legitimization of the Taliban,” said the Canadian report.
“The Special Committee, as noted, appreciates the complexity of this situation. However, it is concerned that many months have passed since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, while the needs of the population are known to be dire.”
An Afghan man carries food supplies in a wheelbarrow during a distribution of humanitarian aid for families in need in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022. (Hussein Malla/The Associated Press)
That’s an understatement. As many as 23 million people in Afghanistan now face the possibility of starvation.
International Development Minister Hajit Sajjan told the committee earlier this spring he could not provide a timeline for addressing the issue but assured MPs that Global Affairs Canada “is working with Justice and Public Safety to figure out the best step to move forward.”
While Canada is debating its next actions, the U.K. parliamentary committee — in a flash of goodwill in an otherwise scalding report — praised the government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson for sending representatives to Kabul on two occasions and for taking “any opportunity that presents itself to sit down with” the Taliban at the ministerial level outside of Afghanistan.
Johnson, the report said, has decided that there is “no point” in the U.K. “standing on the sidelines.”
EDMONTON – Ontario country artist Jade Eagleson has won album of the year at the 2024 Canadian Country Music Association Awards in Edmonton.
The singer from Bailieboro, Ont., was up for six awards alongside Alberta’s MacKenzie Porter.
Eagleson took home album of the year for “Do It Anyway” and says he’s thankful to his wife and management team for helping him reach the level he’s at.
The James Barker Band from Woodville, Ont., also won fans’ choice and group of the year at the award show, held in Edmonton.
During their acceptance speech, frontman Barker hinted at new music and a possible tour in 2025.
Another Ontario crooner, Josh Ross, has taken home a trio of awards, receiving entertainer of the year, male artist of the year and single of the year.
He says he and his band play roughly 150 shows every year and are never home, but says taking home entertainer of the year makes the hard work worth it.
Porter took home female artist of the year, ending the five-year streak of Tenille Townes being awarded the coveted hardware.
Porter had been nominated seven times previously for the award in the past decade but hadn’t won until tonight.
The artist from Medicine Hat, Alta., says it takes a lot of hard work and hustle to succeed as a female in the country music industry and gave a shout out to her fellow singers and her newborn daughter.
Joining the two artists in the winners’ circle was Ontario singer-songwriter Owen Riegling, who won for breakthrough artist of the year.
The show began with American artist and co-host Thomas Rhett being dubbed an honorary Canadian by Edmonton Oilers players Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl.
Rhett donned an Oilers jersey that was gifted to him by the pair.
The return of k.d. lang and the Reclines was expected to be a highlight of the show.
The appearance will mark the first time the Alberta songstress has teamed up with the band in 35 years and is tied to lang’s induction into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
The awards show is back in Alberta’s capital for the first time since 2014. It was held in Hamilton last year and in Calgary in 2022.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
VANDERHOOF, B.C. – British Columbia Conservatives are promising changes they say will bring more stability to the province’s struggling forest industry.
Leader John Rustad announced his plan for the sector a week before the official launch of the provincial election campaign, saying a Conservative government would do away with stumpage fees paid when timber is harvested and instead put a tax on the final products that are produced.
Rustad said Saturday that under a provincial Conservative government, a small fee may be charged upfront, but the bulk would come at the end of the process, depending on what type of product is created.
He also promised to review how wildfires are managed, as well as streamline the permit process and review what he calls the province’s “uncompetitive cost structure.”
“British Columbia is by far the highest cost producers of any jurisdiction in North America. We need to be able to drive down those costs, so that our forest sector can actually be able to do the reinvestment, to be able to create the jobs and make sure that they’re still there to be able to support our communities,” he said.
The governing New Democrats meanwhile, say eliminating stumpage fees would inflame the softwood lumber dispute with the United States and hurt forestry workers.
In a statement issued by the NDP, Andrew Mercier, the party’s candidate in Langley-Willowbrook, said Rustad failed to support the industry when he was in government under the former BC Liberals.
“Not only will Rustad’s old thinking and recycled ideas fail to deliver, his proposal to eliminate stumpage would inflame the softwood lumber dispute — punishing forestry workers and communities,” Mercier said, accusing Rustad of ignoring the complexity of the challenges facing the industry.
The softwood lumber dispute between the U.S. and Canada stretches back decades. In August, the U.S. Department of Commerce nearly doubled duties on softwood lumber.
International Trade Minister Mary Ng has said Canada has taken steps to launch two legal challenges under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.
Rustad said a provincial Conservative government would push hard to get a deal with the United States over the ongoing dispute “whether it’s with the rest of Canada or by itself.”
He said his party’s proposed changes are in the name of bringing “stability” and “hope” to the industry that has seen multiple closures of mills in rural communities over the last several years.
Most recently, Canfor Corp. decided to shutter two northern British Columbia sawmills earlier this month, leaving hundreds of workers unemployed by the end of the year.
According to the United Steelworkers union, Canfor has closed 10 mills in the province since November 2011, including nine in northern B.C.
Jeff Bromley, chair of the United Steelworkers wood council, said Saturday the idea of changes in favour of taxing the final product has been floated in the past.
He said the finer details of the Conservative plan will be important, but that the system needs to be improved and “new ideas are certainly something I’d be willing to entertain.”
“Something needs to happen, or the industry is just going to bleed and wither away and be a shadow of its former self,” Bromley said.
“Politics aside, if (Rustad) can come up with a policy that enables my members to work, then I would be supportive of that. But then I’m supportive of any government that would come up with policies and fibre for our mills to run. Period.”
When Canfor announced its latest closures, Forests Minister Bruce Ralston said the sector was a “foundational part” of the province and the current NDP government would work to support both local jobs and wood manufacturing operations.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers placed All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey on injured reserve because of his lingering calf and Achilles tendon injuries.
The move made Saturday means McCaffrey will miss at least four more games after already sitting out the season opener. He is eligible to return for a Thursday night game in Seattle on Oct. 10.
McCaffrey got hurt early in training camp and missed four weeks of practice before returning to the field on a limited basis last week. He was a late scratch for the opener on Monday night against the Jets and now is sidelined again after experiencing pain following practice on Thursday.
McCaffrey led the NFL last season with 2,023 yards from scrimmage and was tied for the league lead with 21 touchdowns, winning AP Offensive Player of the Year.
The Niners made up for McCaffrey’s absence thanks to a strong performance from backup Jordan Mason, who had 28 carries for 147 yards and a touchdown in San Francisco’s 32-19 victory over the New York Jets. Mason is set to start again Sunday at Minnesota.
After missing 23 games because of injuries in his final two full seasons with Carolina, McCaffrey had been healthy the past two seasons.
He missed only one game combined in 2022-23 — a meaningless Week 18 game last season for San Francisco when he had a sore calf. His 798 combined touches from scrimmage in the regular season and playoffs were the third most for any player in a two-year span in the past 10 years.
Now San Francisco will likely rely heavily on Mason, a former undrafted free agent out of Georgia Tech who had 83 carries his first two seasons. He had at least 10 touches just twice before the season opener, when his 28 carries were the most by a 49ers player in a regular-season game since Frank Gore had 31 against Seattle on Oct. 30, 2011.
The Niners also have fourth-round rookie Isaac Guerendo and Patrick Taylor Jr. on the active roster. Guerendo played three offensive snaps with no touches in the opener. Taylor had 65 carries for Green Bay from 2021-23.
San Francisco also elevated safety Tracy Walker III from the practice squad for Sunday’s game against Minnesota.
