New book from UNB profs explores Afghan mission
Published Tuesday October 14th, 2008
FREDERICTON - The day after he arrived in Afghanistan last year, the Taliban launched rocket-propelled grenades at the convoy of Canadian military vehicles Lee Windsor was riding in.
"They fired at us from between a two-storey apartment building and a row of houses,'' Windsor said. "The gunner on my vehicle pointed his weapon directly at where the attack had come from, but decided not to let go because there was too much risk of collateral damage.
"That's the nature of the enemy Canada is up against. They deliberately try to produce a response that causes innocent civilians to get killed. They kill Canadian soldiers, and try to kill the will of the Canadian people.
"I immediately saw what the Canadian Forces were up against."
The deputy director of the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society at the University of New Brunswick, Windsor survived rocket attacks, an ambush and an attempted suicide bombing during the month he spent in Afghanistan early last year with a task force comprised of troops from Atlantic Canada. A military historian, Windsor was conducting research for a book, Kandahar Tour, co-authored with fellow UNB professors David Charters and Brent Wilson.
"The purpose of this book is not to argue for or against the mission, but to encourage that debate,'' Windsor said as he sat in his office last week on the campus in Fredericton. "I would like to see more discussion.
"I think there is some casualty fatigue, but it is hard for people to measure success against the deaths unless they understand the mission. People have to know what we are doing there before they can try to decide if the price is too high."
With its 100th casualty approaching and expenses now nearing $10 billion, Windsor realizes that many people are weary of Canada's war effort. He believes they would be more empathetic if they understood that it is a peacekeeping effort, albeit one that is a little more dangerous than any in which Canada has been engaged. Ninety-seven Canadians have died in the conflict.
Windsor, who was in Afghanistan when eight soldiers were killed by bombs four days apart, said the current campaign is similar to Canada's mission in Bosnia in the 1990s. Critically important work is being done to repair the country's infrastructure, but it is often overshadowed by the carnage.
"People think what we are doing now is a radical departure from peacekeeping,'' said Windsor, who will soon embark on a nationwide lecture and book-signing tour. "What they don't understand is that there has been a fundamental change in peacekeeping.
"In the 1990s, when our troops went to Sarajevo, the country had fallen apart, people had no freedom of movement and no way to get crops to the market or kids to school, and people were being shaken down and murdered.
"It is identical in many ways to Afghanistan. The difference now is that the level of violence is much higher."
A former artillery soldier, Windsor has a map of Afghanistan on one wall in his office and the country's flag on another. The pistol belt his uncle was wearing when wounded during the Second World War sits atop the bookcase, between a German helmet dug out of a battle field in Italy and a Luftwaffe gun commander's cap. Shelves are jammed with war novels and other souvenirs, including a shell casing from the First World War, a People's Liberation Navy hat, and a helmet belonging to an air marshal in the Royal Australian Regiment.
"The day after my 17th birthday, I signed up for the 8th Canadian Hussars,'' Windsor, 37, said, referring to an artillery regiment based at CFB Gagetown. "The only reason I waited for one day after I was eligible is that my birthday fell on a Sunday that year."
It wasn't until last year, however, that Windsor visited a war zone, and what he saw and experienced helped shape the tone of the book, which describes the 2007 tour that involved hundreds of New Brunswickers and more than 1,000 men and women from the Maritimes.
Windsor wants readers to understand that the battle group's main purpose is not to fight against the Taliban, but to deliver clean drinking water and restore roads to an impoverished and war-torn country.
He believes the work that is being done on the ground is both heroic and worthwhile and would be disappointed if Canada scrapped the mission, now in its sixth year.
"The good news is that none of the parties are talking about completely abandoning Afghanistan, and I think that is a positive.
"The truth is that diplomacy and reconstruction is taking place there, it just isn't being reported on a frequent basis.
"But a lot of people see the value in this mission. Canada has established the model on how to do it right."
Marty Klinkenberg is contributing editor of the Telegraph-Journal. He can be reached at martyklinkenberg@hotmail.com.
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