a)+Why+and+How+did+Canada+get+involved+in+the+war+in+Afghanistan?

a) Why/How did Canada get involved in the war in Afghanistan?

Canada got involved with Afghanistan in 2002 because of numerous reasons, politically and morally. Afghanistan began with a dictatorship/king leader (Zahir Shah), however in 1973 the king was overthrown and a republic was declared, the president Daoud was helped to power by the PDPA (Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan) who eventually overthrew Daoud. The PDPA reformed Afghanistan, bringing in equal treatment to women, but because these laws were so forcefully enforced, they were seen as a brutal government. In response to this, the people rose up in rebellion. The Soviets took an interest in Afghanistan’s dismayed state and invaded in 1979. The United States government initially paid little attention to the PDPA problem in Afghanistan; its attention was focused to the west, where a popular revolution has overthrown their most valuable Middle East ally, Shah of Iran. At that point the United States took an active interest in the Islamic fundamentalists waging war on the PDPA and the Soviets. The CIA began providing military training to the Mujahadeen. They provided weapons, missiles that allowed them to take out modern Soviet tanks and jet planes. The Soviets eventually gave up in 1989 leaving the PDPA to fend for itself. Pakistani Intelligence forces maintained their interest. Seeking to end the civil war which threatened the stability of their own country, it aided in the creation of a new Islamic fundamentalist movement, the Taliban. The Taliban was born in the Islamic schools that had begun inside the Afghan refugee camps inside Pakistan. Once in power, the Taliban sought to create a state based on their interpretations of the Koran. Though already severely repressed by the various Mujahadeen warlords, the life of an Afghani woman was made even worse under the new regime. Wearing a veil became law and women were forbidden from attending school or being employed outside of the home. Television was banned as an effort was made to purge the country of any Western influence. The country became politically and diplomatically isolated. Canada was aware of all the violations of human rights happening in Afghanistan, and then took action. In 2002 they sent peacekeeping troops to Afghanistan to try to change the situation and restore peace. In 2006 they became fully involved and started playing a bigger role. Son, after 10yrs of being there, Canada will withdraw from Afghanistan. By Rachel

The Canadian government claimed they went to war for four reasons

- To support the Americans

- Defend Canada’s national interests

- Ensure Canadian leaderships in world affairs

- Help Afghanistan rebuild its self by helping the women and children by get ride of the Taliban which they haven’t done. Now Afghanistan is in a worse state than when the Americans and Canadians arrived

By neil mcfadden **In my understanding of how Canada got involved was that we originally had gone in to protect the Afghan people but not to fight. The National Defense Minister told Canada to go with the other countries to Afghanistan in 2001. Canada’s goals were to re-build Afghanistan and to keep Canada’s agreement to the U.N. Forces. Canada and the U.S wanted to capture or stop the Al-qaeda group and to stop the Taliban as it was believed that the Taliban was causing terrorism around the world. Canada didn’t start to have a big role in Afghanistan until 2006 when they deployed yet another fleet of Troops. When Canada began to push out the Taliban, the Taliban began to deploy more and more fighters. The peace keeping that Canada had first set out for was beginning to become a full on battle. Some of the problems was that when Canada finally cleared an area they would start the rebuilding effort and then the Taliban would invade and destroy the newly built industries. This is what has occurred in the past and is the reason why we are dealing with the problems with a full on fight today. **

Canada got involved because they went to protect the Afghan people. They went as peace keepers. Canada deployed troops there in 2001 along with other countries in NATO. Canada went to rebuild and protect the Afghan people. At this point the U.S had the major role in Afghanistan. It wasn’t until 2006 when they deployed more soldiers that they started to have a bigger role. Suddenly Canada’s peacekeeping role was turning into a war. The Taliban are very hard enemies to face because they hide in caves and blend in with crowds. The reason that the Taliban hated America so much was because during the soviet invasion of 1979, America made promises to help them recover and rebuild but once Russia left so did America. The promises were never fulfilled. The Taliban fought back against the Canadians and both sides lost lives. Now after 10 years we are leaving. Kenyon As far as I understand the Canadians got into this war as people to make peace. Canada first deployed troops to Afghanistan in 2001. They came with a couple other countries from NATO. Canada went to help the people by protecting them and fixing war torn cities. Also by this time the U.S were the major fighters in the war. Soon after in 2006 Canada's attempt for peace turned into a war. The Taliban were quite a challenging army to face for many reasons including: the Talibans great knowledge of the land and their cultural background witch made them blend in with the rest of the people in this region. Well you may ask why the Taliban hated America well it all falls back to 1979 during the Soviet invasion. When America came to help. They promised the people that they would help them rebuild and recover after a brutal invasion. But when Russia pulled out America did to and they never helped them like they promised. The Canadians fought a war that wasn't there's and now they are coming out after more than ten years of life's being lost and families being split apart. James Several facts about this topic can be found at this link. [|Afghanistan]
 * POSTED BY: N.V. **

Sage  After the Second World War the Soviet Union, the British and the United-States all wanted to take over Berlin. This would allow them to take control of Germany. They agreed to separate the city into three equal parts, the west side belonging to the Soviets, and the east side belonging to the Brits and the U.S. After dividing the city the Soviet Union created the Iron Curtain. This consisted of a barricaded wall, then a type of “no man’s land”, then a large fence with barbwire. There were guards protecting the wall and many families were separated. This was a huge event in the European world. After this event, the Soviet Union became the “boogeymen” of the U.S. therefore they were persecuted by America. In fact, the U.S. supported the Taliban for a short while because they were also fighting off the Soviets. In 1989 the Soviet Union left leaving the Taliban to try and overthrow Afghanistan’s proper government. The U.S. then created the Taliban as the new “boogeymen”. In 2001 the UN and Canadian forces went into Afghanistan together as peacekeepers to overthrow the Taliban and restore the proper government. Unfortunately the forces got shot at; therefore, they needed to shoot back. This is how Canadians ended up fighting in Afghanistan instead of peacekeeping.  Now, ten years later, Canada is withdrawing their troops. Sage

Maggie Canada got involved with the war in Afghanistan a few days after September eleventh, with the attack on the twin towers. More than one hundred Canadian troops were sent to participate in an operation on Afghanistan. The operation was done to stop the Taliban and to identify the members of the Al-Qaeda. At the time, Canada’s reasons for going were to defend Canadian interests, ensure Canadian leadership in world affairs; and to help Afghanistan rebuild. So Canada got involved because of political and moral reasons. The first Canadian troops arrived in Afghanistan in January - February 2002. However, their role in the war wasn’t too large until 2006, when Canadian troops were sent to Kandahar for a military campaign led by the U.S. against the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. In 2005, the Afghanistan Compact was adopted, it involved the plans to develop Afghanistan. Canada was involved with this and donations were given. Canada probably got involved with this compact because they wanted to help Afghanistan rebuild their country. In conclusion, I think Canada got involved because of political and moral reasons. They wanted to aid Afghanistan and prevent any more catastrophic events like 9/11 from happening again. Maggie

I think the Canada troops were sent to keep the peace then ended up fighting for Afghanistan in 2003; Canada began participating in the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul and sent more than 1,000 soldiers at a time on 6-month rotations to the Afghan capital. In 2006, Canada agreed to send a battle group and brigade headquarters to Kandahar for the transition from U.S. control.

brandon

**__a) Why/How did Canada get involved in the war in Afghanistan?__  (historical background) **

**By: K L-B ** =Canadian soldiers, commandos our special forces unit Joint Task Force 2, were in Afghanistan from the start. In 2002 a battlegroup from 3rd battalion PPCLI was sent to Kandahar to help in hunting down remains of the Taliban and al Qaeda.= =In 2003, Canada started participating in ISAF in Kabul and sent more than 1,000 soldiers on 6-month rotations to Kabul.= = Canadian troops are the responsibles for security and fighting Taliban in Kandahar province, in help from British, Dutch and other coalition forces. =
 * Canada became involved in Afghanistan because the U.N security council considered it a mater of international security. We sent in the Joint Task Force - 2 troops (JTF-2), Canada’s top-secret commando unit. They are a counter-terrorism unit, which leads me to infer that another reason Canada became involved was to help fight the Taliban and Al-Qaeda to prevent terrorist attacks in Canada and around the world. In 2006, more troops were sent to help fight the Taliban. These troops were deployed because there were not not enough countries sending troops to fight the Taliban and Al-Qaeda and to defend the Afghan citizens, so Canada also became involved in the war in Afghanistan to protect the Afghan people. Canada was not, however, originally involved in the war on a combat mission, but rather a peace keeping mission which eventually became a combat mission in Kandahar. **

Soleil Patterson