DISPATCHES: The Royal Canadian Infantry Corps in Afghanistan

Phase II of Operation ATHENA in Kandahar ended in July 2011, bringing to a close the longest sustained military campaign in Canadian history, more than six years after its controversial launch in July 2005.1 At the time of writing in 2013, the struggle for Kandahar and the rest of Afghanistan continues between the NATO-backed Afghan Government and the Taliban and other anti-government forces. So too does Canada’s South Asian commitment in the form of military training assistance, aid and development tentatively slated to conclude in 2014 when the international community plans to transfer responsibility “for security and governance to Afghanistan.”