{"id":121845,"date":"2026-02-03T21:23:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T21:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/121845\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T21:23:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T21:23:31","slug":"heres-how-canada-punched-above-its-military-weight-in-afghanistan-from-someone-with-a-front-row-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/121845\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s how Canada punched above its military weight in Afghanistan \u2014 from someone with a front-row seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe\u2019ve never needed them. We have never really asked anything of them. You know, they\u2019ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan, or this or that. And they did \u2014 they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.\u201d So said United States President Donald Trump recently<\/a>, referring to America\u2019s NATO allies, including Canada.<\/p>\n

The comments have provoked outrage. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called them \u201cfrankly appalling,\u201d<\/a> especially the insinuation that soldiers from other NATO states avoided the front lines in Afghanistan, leaving the most dangerous heavy lifting to American forces. <\/p>\n

Anyone moderately familiar with NATO\u2019s involvement in Afghanistan knows Trump\u2019s insult is rubbish \u2014 especially when it comes to Canada. <\/p>\n

The Canadian Armed Forces were deployed in some of the most dangerous regions and complex situations in Afghanistan for more than a decade, paying a heavy price in casualties<\/a> \u2014 the heaviest since the Korean War in the early 1950s, when Canada also supported the American-led war effort and more than 500 Canadians died doing so<\/a>. <\/p>\n

What is less commented upon is Trump\u2019s claim: \u201cWe\u2019ve never needed them. We have never really asked anything of them.\u201d This, too, is rubbish as far as Canada is concerned.<\/p>\n

A front-row seat to Rumsfeld\u2019s request<\/p>\n

Twenty-three years ago, in fact, the U.S. asked Canada for something substantive and specific in Afghanistan. And Canada delivered substantively.<\/p>\n

The ask came from U.S. President George W. Bush\u2019s secretary of defense, the late Donald Rumsfeld, in January 2003. Famous for being sharp and precise with language, Rumsfeld invited Canada\u2019s defence minister at the time, the late John McCallum, to the Pentagon to make a request.<\/p>\n

I was in the room that day, and I heard the ask from Rumsfeld\u2019s own lips (I later wrote about this historic meeting in The Unexpected War: Canada in Kandahar<\/a> in 2007 and again in 2025 in Chretien and the World: Canadian Foreign Policy from 1993-2003<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Rumsfeld asked Canada to lead the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), a multi-national stabilization mission then confined to Kabul, the war-torn capital city of Afghanistan. Rumsfeld\u2019s request was an extremely significant one for Canada to digest. It meant providing the largest contingent of troops \u2014 about 2,200 \u2014 as well as a brigade headquarters and command of the operation. <\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, left, greets Canadian Defence Minister John McCallum prior to their meeting at the Pentagon in January 2003.
\n (AP Photo\/Rick Bowmer)<\/p>\n

Rumsfeld emphasized how critical the leadership of that mission was from his perspective, and how in his view Canada was better suited to take on the role than any other American ally. Gen. Richard Meyers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, was also present at the meeting and reinforced Rumsfeld\u2019s point that ISAF was key to the Kabul region and Canada was the preferred nation to lead it.<\/p>\n

American forces, the defense secretary argued, needed Canada to stabilize Kabul, which was awash in war lords and militia and had no real functioning government at that point.<\/p>\n

American forces, meantime, would be otherwise engaged in the invasion of Iraq<\/a> (which began a few weeks later) and holding the line in southern Afghanistan, where U.S. troops were concentrated. <\/p>\n

The Canadian military was needed to hold Kabul together and pave the way for scheduled Afghan elections in 2004, Rumsfeld said. Kabul was an extremely important and vulnerable flank in the American war effort, and Rumsfeld needed Canada to cover that flank. <\/p>\n

Canada answered the call<\/p>\n

The U.S. needed Canada. The American military needed the Canadian Armed Forces. So Rumsfeld asked Canada for help. Following that meeting, McCallum returned to Ottawa and dutifully presented Rumsfeld\u2019s ask to then Foreign Minister Bill Graham, Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Canada\u2019s military leadership and ultimately the federal cabinet. <\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a><\/p>\n

Canadian soldiers salute over the coffins of their fallen colleagues as the coffins are taken to the airport for repatriation to Canada, at Camp Julien in Kabul, Afghanistan in October 2003.
\n (AP Photo\/Richard Vogel)<\/p>\n

It was not an easy ask for Canada to fulfil in terms of military capability, capacity and risk. Canada had never done anything like this before. It was, therefore, not an easy decision to make for the government of Canada and for the Canadian military to deliver.<\/p>\n

But Canada answered the call from its closest ally, giving the U.S. exactly what it asked for and what it needed from Canada. And for the next couple of years, more than 2,000 Canadian Armed Forces soldiers were deployed into the dangers and instability of Kabul in what was known as Operation Athena Phase 1 Kabul,<\/a> where they acquitted themselves exceptionally well \u2014 as Rumsfeld predicted they would. Three Canadian soldiers gave their lives during this phase from 2003 to 2005. <\/p>\n

Trump needs to be briefed on Canada\u2019s military heroism before he opens his mouth again on this file. And Americans should understand that in the case of Afghanistan, they needed Canada\u2019s help, their government asked Canada for help \u2014 and Canada delivered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019ve never needed them. We have never really asked anything of them. You know, they\u2019ll say they sent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-121845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-queens","12":"tag-queens-headlines","13":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}