Six Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan yesterday (newspaper story). That brings the total number of Canadians killed there to 51. Although, “any man’s death diminishes me”, it really doesn’t sound like a big number, does it? Hey, it’s not even a hundred.
So I was more than a bit surprised when I compared the number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan to the population of their countries. Look:
Country Population (M) KIA KIA/population (X 10[sup]6[/sup])
USA 300 311 1.04
UK 61 52 0.85
Canada 33 51 1.55
Spain 40 20 0.50
Germany 82 18 0.22
France 63 9 0.14
Italy 58 9 0.16
Netherlands 16 4 0.25
Romania 22 3 0.14
Denmark 5 2 0.40
Sweden 9 2 0.22
Australia 20 1 0.05
Norway 11 1 0.09
Portugal 11 1 0.09
South Korea 49 1 0.02
On a per-capita basis, Canada has suffered 50% more KIAs in Afghanistan than the US, and almost double the amount of the Brits.
What’s my point? Partly to share my surprise, but also to demonstrate that other countries are doing their bit in Afghanistan, and suffering just as much, if not more than the “expected ones”. I suppose that there is another reason that I’ve done all this - my nephew just got back from Afghanistan two weeks ago. He was in combat for much of his first months there (August and September in Operation MEDUSA). I had no idea how lucky we are to have him back.
Addendum - in case it isn’t obvious, I am a Canadian.
Hey, we’ve got that active camouflage stuff, which is pretty cool. Except that its development was partly funded by Google, and every now and then the AC suit will flash banner ads for herbal remedies and anti-war sites.
It is horrible when you hear of such stories, nonetheless I do believe it is necessary that we stick it out in Afghanistan, not abandon it like so many others have done for so long. To be honest it is one of the few reasons I think we should spend more on our military (maybe).
I know, I know, real decisive, eh?
I’m glad your nephew made it back safely. My nephew is over there now. I’ve given up calling my sister every time I hear about more casualties, it just freaks her out too much.
I really don’t know what to say about Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan. I’m a pacifist, so I don’t particularly care for anyone making war and killing, but I’m not stupid, either; I realize there are things going on in the world that aren’t right, and sometimes you have to do less than ideal things to stop the wrong things. I guess I should just be glad that we declined to invade Iraq.
Here’s another very interesting story - sort of an overview of Canada’s role in the Afghanistan crisis. About halfway down the page on the right hand side there are some Quick Facts about Afghanistan.
Unemployment rate - 78%
Median Age - 17.5
Life Expectancy at Birth - 42.46 years
Compare that to Canada -
Unemployment rate - 6.8%
Median Age - 38.54
Life Expectancy at Birth - 79.2 years
I don’t really have a point about that; it just really struck me, is all.
And now again. Two more Canadian soldiers were killed earlier today. That brings Canada’s total KIA in Afghanistan to 53, second only to the US, and extends our “lead” in the ratio of KIA to population to 1.62 (cf. 1.04 and 0.85 for the US and UK respectively).
Earlier in this thread, tvvat alludes to the possibility that our equipment leaves a lot to be desired. I think he/she may be onto something. It really does seem that our APCs and the like aren’t offering the best protection.
Canada also has an especially dangerous role (Operation Athena) – it’s not peacekeeping, it’s actively hunting out Taliban. Hence, proportionally more Canadians die.
As well, several of our NATO “allies” have put “caveats” on their troops’ participation in Afghanistan - to keep them out of harm’s way. (Literally - they are not to go into some of the more dangerous areas, and are not to get involved in certain levels of combat.)
I think the only countries that have sent troops without caveats are Canada, the U.K., the U.S., and the Netherlands. That means that these four countries will have a greater proportion of casualties than will our “allies.”
Canada’s soldiers are extremely effective - at least as good as the U.S. military. As others have said, Canada’s taking casualties because Canadian soldiers are leading the fight. They’re wading in and getting their hands dirty. Too many other countries are ‘helping’ by sending soldiers and keeping them out of harm’s way.