20 décembre 2019 | Local, Autre défense
By Charlie Pinkerton.
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan says Canadian Forces deployed to Afghanistan contributed useful insights to American forces, whose past military operations in the country have drawn new scrutiny following The Washington Post's publication of the so-called Afghanistan Papers.
The documents obtained and published by the Post are the product of hundreds of interviews carried out by the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR). SIGAR was mandated to complete a series of reports exploring the effectiveness of its nearly two-decade, close to trillion-dollar mission that it began as a retaliation against al-Qaeda for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The documents fought for in court by the Post include notes, transcripts and audio recordings that the subjects had been promised would not be made public by the government. They provide a thorough look at the frustrations and concerns of top U.S. brass and a lack of understanding of the conflict by the American military and its government.
One of the revelations of the Afghanistan Papers is the that as the conflict continued, top American military officials considered it an unwinnable conflict.
Sajjan completed three Afghanistan tours, where he worked in intelligence before working directly with top American troops as an adviser.
In giving his take on how the Canadian perspective compared to that of the Americans during the mission, Sajjan said the Canadian Armed Forces had a better understanding of the realities of the conflict than its closest allies.
READ MORE: A year-end Q&A with Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan
“I would say the insights the Canadians provided were actually very useful. That's one point that I'm trying to get across here, and I appreciate the Americans coming out and talking about this now,” Sajjan said. “Canadians were providing a very good perspective, very early on, to have a much more, I would say, accurate account of what is happening,”
One passage the Post highlighted from the thousands of pages of documents to underscore the discontent with the conflict by U.S. officials was an interview with Douglas Lute, a former top army general who became an adviser on the Afghan war in the White House.
“We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan — we didn't know what we were doing,” Lute said. “What are we trying to do here? We didn't have the foggiest notion of what we were undertaking.”
Sajjan said good decisions were made only with an “accurate” and “good understanding” of the Afghanistan conflict.
From 2001 to 2014, 40,000 Canadians served in Afghanistan. There were 158 Canadian soldiers killed. On top of its military effort, Canada has provided more than $3 billion in international assistance to Afghanistan since 2001.
In talking about Canada's operations in Afghanistan, Sajjan also defended well-known Canadian-led aspects of the mission, such as the Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT, but known colloquially as omelette) and its stabilization-focused whole-of-government approach to the conflict.
“What I'm trying to say here is that the work that Canada did there was highly valued and I appreciate other allies coming out with different perspectives,” Sajjan said.
4 mai 2023 | Local, C4ISR
The Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar (Arctic OTHR) will be established in the southern portion of Ontario and should be ready for initial operations by 2028.
12 mai 2020 | Local, Aérospatial
David Pugliese • Ottawa Citizen The Canadian military has pulled back its commitment of a transport aircraft for the United Nations. The C-130 service to the UN stopped on March 6 and personnel redeployed back to Canada, UN and military sources told this newspaper. The Canadian military confirmed the information. “In light of the COVID-19 pandemic situation worldwide, and given the strict isolation measures imposed by Uganda for crews arriving in the country, it is anticipated that the crew's and the aircraft's availability for operations in Canada would be severely limited,” the Canadian Forces stated in an email Thursday. “The CAF has therefore deferred the April-May combined iteration, and the feasibility of the iteration scheduled for 25 June-6 July 2020 will be reassessed at the beginning of June.” Starting last year the Canadian Forces committed a tactical airlift detachment on a monthly basis to Entebbe, Uganda to assist the UN's Regional Support Centre in the sustainment of ongoing UN operations. That involved a C-130J Hercules aircraft and about 20 personnel. The aircraft deployed for up to five days each month to assist with transporting troops, equipment and supplies to the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). “Operation PRESENCE – Uganda is the provision of that tactical airlift support via the Regional Support Centre in Entebbe, Uganda, to UN peacekeeping operations in Africa and is an important part of Canada's commitment to making valuable contributions to UN peace support operations on the continent,” the military has noted on its website. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/rcaf-transport-aircraft-withdrawn-from-united-nations-service-because-of-covid-19/
4 juin 2020 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
The Canadian Export Challenge is going digital Are you interested in fast‑tracking your global business growth? This September, the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service (TCS), along with Export Development Canada (EDC), UPS, Mastercard and Scotiabank, are collaborating with Startup Canada to present the third annual, and first fully‑digital edition of the Canadian Export Challenge (CXC) for Canadian startups and scale‑ups powered by Google. This year, the CXC will aim to be a safe space for Canadian exporters and industry partners to come together, provide support to each other, and navigate the uncertain export environment in light of COVID‑19. Participants can: • Attend livestream presentations and breakout sessions • Experience interactive learning with industry experts • Apply to compete in the digital pitch competition The events will be held digitally during the week of September 14th, 2020 in the following five regions across Canada (final dates to be confirmed): • British Columbia and Northern Region • Prairies Region • Ontario Region • Atlantic Region • Quebec Region The call for applications to register for CXC participation opened on June 1, 2020. Entrepreneurs are encouraged to apply and submit their video pitches until September 9, 2020. Accelerate your international expansion. Learn more and apply now! Subscribe to receive future email notifications through CanadExport. THE CANADIAN TRADE COMMISSIONER SERVICE ISSN 1493-7395 Unsubscribe | Important Notices Contact Us Deputy Director: Gregory Radych Managing Editor: Yen Le CanadExport Global Affairs Canada 111 Sussex Drive Ottawa, Ontario K1N 1J1