The number of Canadian Forces' fatalities resulting from Canadian military activities in Afghanistan is the largest for any single Canadian military mission since the Korean War between 1950 and 1953. A total of 159 Canadian Forces personnel and 7 civilians have died in the conflict. [1]
The first casualties occurred in the Tarnak Farm incident, in which four Canadians were killed and eight seriously wounded when a United States warplane dropped a bomb on a training exercise in the belief that the Canadians were enemy soldiers. The four servicemen were honoured at an event unprecedented in Canada in 2002. The Skyreach Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, was filled to capacity for a tribute ceremony for the four deceased soldiers that included personal messages from Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, Prime Minister Jean Chretien, the Chief of Defence Staff, Premier of Alberta and Premier of Manitoba, and the Mayor of Edmonton, most of whom attended the service. Subsequently, deceased soldiers have been honoured by much smaller services.
On 9 April 2007, Queen Elizabeth II made reference to all the deceased Canadians in Afghanistan when she rededicated the Vimy Memorial "to their eternal remembrance, to Canada, to all who would serve the cause of freedom, and to those who have lost their lives in Afghanistan." [2]
Further, in honour of all those who died during the Afghan mission, the section of Ontario's Highway 401 along which deceased soldiers are carried from Canadian Forces Base Trenton to Toronto after repatriation was named the Highway of Heroes . [3]
All those Canadian Forces personnel who are killed during the mission are posthumously awarded the Sacrifice Medal and their spouse or next of kin receive the Memorial Cross.
The first deployed Canadian woman combatant to die in combat was Captain Nichola Goddard.
The first soldier from Quebec to die in the mission in Afghanistan was Cpl Simon Longtin who died of his wounds resulting from an IED blast.
The death of Anthony Boneca initiated debate about the combat readiness of Canadian reservists, wherein questions were asked not only about the suitability of employing reservists, but also the role of the media in reporting comments by grief-stricken relatives, such as those made by Boneca's partner's father. The suitability of the Iltis vehicle was also questioned heavily following a land mine incident on 2 Oct 2003 that claimed the lives of two Canadian soldiers, Cpl Robbie Beerenfenger and Sgt Robert Short, leading the military to thereafter acquire Mercedes-Benz G-Class and RG-31 Nyala armoured patrol vehicles. [4]
The first Canadian woman to die of suicide on an overseas deployment was Major Michelle Mendes, an intelligence officer, who died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds at Kandahar Airfield on 24 Apr 2009 only a few days after her arrival. [5]
The first gravely injured Canadian soldier to redeploy in Kandahar was Captain Simon Mailloux in November 2009. Capt Mailloux had been gravely injured in November 2007 following an IED incident in the Panjwayi district and his left leg had to be amputated. Two more Canadian soldiers, Corporal Nicholas Beauchamp and Private Michel Levesque, died in the same incident.
The highest ranking casualty was sustained on 18 May 2010, when Colonel Geoff Parker was killed after a suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives into a NATO convoy during morning rush hour on the edge of Kabul. Five U.S. soldiers and 12 Afghan civilians were also killed in this attack. [6]
On 28 November 2014, Veterans Affairs Canada attributed Corporal Jacques Larocque's (8 AMS Trenton) death (27 August 2005) to the Afghanistan mission. [7] On 21 September 2015, the city of Quinte West confirmed they were to add another name to the monument, Cpl Jacques Larocque's name was added on 16 October 2015 as the 159th Canadian soldier who died in active service on the Afghan mission.
| Rank | Number |
|---|---|
| General Officers (officiers généraux) | |
| Total | 0 |
| Senior Officers (officiers supérieurs) | |
| Colonels | 1 |
| Majors | 3 |
| Total | 4 |
| Junior Officers (officiers subalternes) | |
| Captains | 6 |
| Lieutenants | 3 |
| 'Total | 9 |
| NCM Senior Rank (Rangs supérieurs) | |
| Chief Warrant Officer | 1 |
| Master Warrant Officer | 1 |
| Warrant Officers | 6 |
| Sergeants (17 Sergeants, 1 Petty Officer 2nd Class) | 18 |
| Total | 26 |
| NCM Junior Ranks (Rangs subalternes) | |
| Master Corporals | 16 |
| Corporals (55 Corporals, 3 Bombardiers) | 58 |
| Privates (30 Privates, 10 Troopers, 1 Gunner, 5 Sappers) | 46 |
| Total | 120 |
| Total | 159 |
| Cause | Number |
|---|---|
| Enemy action | |
| Explosives | 97 |
| Direct fire | 22 |
| Suicide attacks | 13 |
| Total | 132 |
| Non-enemy action | |
| Friendly-fire | 6 |
| Vehicle accidents | 6 |
| Helicopter accidents | 2 |
| Accidental falls | 2 |
| Accidental gunshots | 2 |
| Suicides | 3 |
| Unspecified | 4 |
| Illness | 2 |
| Total | 27 |
| Total | 159 |
On 17 May 2006, 26-year-old Captain Nichola Goddard from the 1 Royal Canadian Horse Artillery was killed during operations against insurgents. She was the first Canadian female soldier to die in combat. [9]
On 4 September the same year, Olympic athlete Private Mark Anthony Graham from the 1st Battalion The Royal Canadian Regiment was killed when two US A-10 Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft strafed Canadian troops in a friendly fire incident. More than 30 other Canadian soldiers were wounded in the incident. [10] [11]
On 28 Oct 2009, Saskatoon born, 26-year-old Lieutenant Justin Boyes, assigned to the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team, from 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (3PPCLI) was killed in an explosion while leading a foot patrol 20 km southwest of Kandahar City in Panjwayi district. [12] [13]
Figures released by DND in June 2013 show that the total number of Canadian soldiers injured and wounded in more than ten years of war reached 2,071 by the end of December 2012. 1,436 of these are listed as NBI (Non battle injuries) and 635 are listed as WIA (wounded in action). [14]
Following a policy change at the beginning of 2010, the Canadian military began to withhold all injury reports, releasing only statistics after the end of a calendar year, citing security reasons. [15]
The Department of National Defence also refuses to disclose the nature or severity of injuries and wounds, as it is an operational secret. [16]
The Sacrifice Medal may be awarded to members of the Canadian Forces that they were deployed as part of a military mission, that have, on or after 7 October 2001, died or been wounded under honourable circumstances as a direct result of hostile action on the condition that the wounds that were sustained required treatment by a physician and the treatment has been documented. [17] Most of the casualties on this page would have received the Sacrifice Medal along with the General Campaign Star for their deployment in support of the combat Operation Athena. [18]
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a multinational military mission in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. It was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1386 according to the Bonn Agreement, which outlined the establishment of a permanent Afghan government following the U.S. invasion in October 2001. ISAF's primary goal was to train the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and assist Afghanistan in rebuilding key government institutions; it gradually took part in the broader war in Afghanistan against the Taliban insurgency.
Throughout the War in Afghanistan, there had been 3,621 coalition deaths in Afghanistan as part of the coalition operations since the invasion in 2001. In this total, the American figure is for deaths "In and Around Afghanistan" which, as defined by the United States Department of Defense, includes some deaths in Pakistan and Uzbekistan and the deaths of 18 CIA operatives.
Panjwayi is a district in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. It is located about 35 kilometres (22 mi) west of Kandahar. The district borders Helmand Province to the southwest, Maywand District to the west, Zhari District to the north, Arghandab, Kandahar and Daman districts to the east and Reg District to the south. Panjwayi was reduced in size in 2004 when Zhari District was created out of the northern part of it, on the northern side of the Arghandab River, which now forms the northern boundary.
Canada's role in the Afghanistan War began in late 2001. Canada sent its first element of soldiers secretly in October 2001 from Joint Task Force 2, and the first contingents of regular Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) troops arrived in Afghanistan in January–February 2002. The operations were aimed at identifying and neutralizing Al-Qaeda members in that country and toppling the Taliban regime which was supporting international terrorism. Canada's role in the Afghan conflict grew in 2006 when Canadian troops relieved US forces in Kandahar province, taking command of the multinational brigade in the region during a major Taliban offensive.
The Taliban insurgency began after the group's fall from power during the 2001 War in Afghanistan. The Taliban forces fought against the Afghan government, led by President Hamid Karzai, and later by President Ashraf Ghani, and against a US-led coalition of forces that has included all members of NATO; the 2021 Taliban offensive resulted in the collapse of the government of Ashraf Ghani. The private sector in Pakistan extends financial aid to the Taliban, contributing to their financial sustenance.
During the War in Afghanistan, according to the Costs of War Project the war killed 176,000 people in Afghanistan: 46,319 civilians, 69,095 military and police and at least 52,893 opposition fighters. However, the death toll is possibly higher due to unaccounted deaths by "disease, loss of access to food, water, infrastructure, and/or other indirect consequences of the war." According to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, the conflict killed 212,191 people. The Cost of War project estimated in 2015 that the number who have died through indirect causes related to the war may be as high as 360,000 additional people based on a ratio of indirect to direct deaths in contemporary conflicts.
Operation Mountain Thrust was a joint NATO and Afghan-led military operation in the War in Afghanistan. It involved more than 3,300 British troops, 2,300 U.S. troops, 2,200 Canadian troops, along with approximately 3,500 Afghan soldiers, supported by extensive air power. Its primary objective was to quell the ongoing Taliban insurgency in the south of the country.
Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport, also referred to as Kandahar International Airport, and by some military officials as Kandahar Airfield, KAF), is located in the Daman District of Kandahar Province in Afghanistan, about 9 NM southeast from the city of Kandahar. It serves as the nation's second main international airport and as one of the largest main operating bases, capable of housing up to 250 aircraft of different sizes. The current head of the airport is Maulvi Fathullah Mansour.
Operation Medusa was a Canadian-led offensive during the second Battle of Panjwaii of the War in Afghanistan. The operation was fought primarily by the 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group and other elements of the International Security Assistance Force, including A Co, 2-4 Infantry BN, 4th BDE, 10th Mtn Division, supported by the Afghan National Army and a team from the United States Army's 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) augmented by C Company, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division. Its goal was to establish government control over an area of Kandahar Province centered in the district of Panjwayi some 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of Kandahar city. A tactical victory, it resulted in the deaths of 12 Canadian soldiers; five during the major combat operations, five in bombings, and two in a mortar/RPG attack during the reconstruction phase of the operation. Fourteen British military personnel were also killed when their plane crashed. Despite suffering a brutal battlefield defeat, the Taliban retained their presence in Kandahar province, leading to the subsequent Operation Falcon Summit. Nonetheless, Operation Medusa was at the time the most significant land battle ever undertaken by NATO.
The United Kingdom was one of the first countries to take part in Operation Enduring Freedom against the Taliban regime in autumn 2001.
The Battle of Panjwaii was fought in mid-2006 with primarily Canadian and Afghan soldiers, supported by small elements of Dutch, American, and British forces against the Taliban. There were two separate times in which the forces were involved in heavy fighting in the region. The first phase was fought in July 2006, and the second encounter lasted from September to October 2006.
The following items form a partial timeline of the War in Afghanistan. For events prior to October 7, 2001, see 2001 in Afghanistan.
The Friendly fire incident at Sangin was a military incident that took place on March 29, 2006. Afghan insurgents mounted an assault on a forward operating base in Helmand province near the town of Lashkar Gah, which had been opened only six weeks earlier and was staffed by 100 ANA soldiers and their American trainers, using small arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades, and mortars.
Operation Nasrat ('Triumph') was a military campaign by the Taliban insurgency in September 2007. It was focused on targeting American and Coalition forces operating in Helmand and Kabul Province.
Events from the year 2010 in Afghanistan.
Simon Mailloux is a serving officer in the Canadian Forces. He was severely injured on 16 November 2007 in an IED incident in Afghanistan. As a result, his left leg was amputated.
The 2006 Taliban offensive was a major military offensive launched by the Taliban in southern Afghanistan in the spring of 2006. The offensive was planned to unfold on three main fronts concentrated in the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar: the first front was to target northern Helmand, focusing on the districts of Sangin, Nowzad, and Kajaki. The second front aimed at southern Helmand, with a focus on the districts of Garmser and Nawa. The third, and most important, would be western Kandahar, targeting the districts of Maiwand, Zharey, and Panjwayi.
In total, 165 Canadians died during the war in Afghanistan (158 soldiers, 7 civilians). More than 2,000 members of the CAF were wounded or injured during the war.
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