What is Canada’s legacy in Afghanistan?

Background:

Graeme Smith was The Globe and Mail’s lead correspondent in Afghanistan from 2006 to 2009. In 2007 he broke the story that Afghan detainees in Canadian custody had been abused in Kandahar jails. Following the government’s release of over 40,000 documents relating to Afghan detainees, an appointed panel combed through the documents to publish 4,000 pages of them on 22 June of this year.

CIC Analysis:

We ask Graeme Smith to discuss the ramifications of this document dump and of Canada’s newly-begun withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Interview with Graeme Smith:

What are the ethical implications of the two-tiered system of Afghan detainee treatment?

Is Canadian withdrawal from Afghanistan an inauspicious beginning to this post-NATO chapter of the country’s history?

Has the Canadian military mandate in Afghanistan been different from the political one? Has the mandate been governed by a prioritization of human rights or state security?

Are members of the NATO force complicit in placing “strongmen” in Afghanistan in favour of stability over the protection of human rights?

You broke the Afghan detainees story. What is your reaction to the outcome of the documents’ release?

Photo courtesy Reuters.