The Afghanistan Election Blindspot

Last Sunday, 3 soldiers were wounded and a Canadian diplomat was killed in a suicide attack in Kandahar. When I heard this news I was saddened to think that such a horrible fate had befallen our Canadian peacekeepers. What I did not realize at the time was that Canadian forces stationed in Kandahar are not performing peacekeeping operations; these 600 Canadian troops are engaged in heavy combat, and will be joined by another 1400 soldiers by next month.

Look- I'm not saying that we shouldn't be there- I'll save that discussion for another post. What I'm pissed about is that this is the last week of a very long election and the issue of Canada's involvement in Afghanistan has not registered even a blip on the radar. Canada's military is poised on the cusp of its most dangerous military operation since the Korean War, yet neither the party leaders nor the media responsible for assessing their performance have addressed this issue. How might those 600 troops in Kandahar- better yet, the 1400 troops awaiting deployment- feel knowing that their incredible sacrifice isn't important enough to factor as an issue in this election?