In April 2021, President Joe Biden announced that by 11 September 2021 – 20 years to the day after the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, PA – the United States planned to have withdrawn all its troops from Afghanistan. In particular, he rejected the long-standing advice of his military officials that a full withdrawal should be “conditions based,” that is, depending on the strength of the Afghan National Army and the behavior of the Taliban. Instead, he recapitulated the conclusion he had reached a dozen years earlier when he visited Afghanistan, prior to being sworn in as vice president: “More and endless American military force could not create or sustain a durable Afghan government.”

The U.S.-Afghan War is the longest war that America has ever fought. It lasted through two George W. Bush administrations, two Barack Obama administrations, and the Donald Trump administration. The war in Afghanistan was also Canada’s longest war (2001-2014) and its first significant combat engagement since the Korean War (1950–53). More than 40,000 Canadian Armed Forces personnel served in the 12-year campaign. In total, 165 Canadians were killed — 158 soldiers and 7 civilians and more than 2,000 soldiers were wounded or injured.

In this Zoom talk our moderator, Dr. Chris Kilford and three panelists, Colonel (retired) Jamie Hammond, Corey Levine and Dr. Athena Madan will look back at Canada’s role in Afghanistan and provide their thoughts on what next for the people of Afghanistan.  All four have served and/or worked in Afghanistan over many years.