As reported in the Ottawa Citizen, citing reasons of national security the Canadian government will no longer report the cost of its ongoing conflict in Afghanistan. In previous years the government has complied with access to information requests but, for the next three fiscal years, this will no longer be the case. According to last […]
Archive | June, 2009
Global Arms Spending on the Rise
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s annual report on world arms transfers, global arms spending was up by 4 percent last year. The United States retained its position as the top spender on military procurement by a significant margin, over second place China. In total, “the U.S. accounted for nearly 42 percent” of the $1.46 […]
Increase in violence surrounding Afghan elections
Security is a major concern for international forces in regard to the upcoming elections in Afghanistan. Amidst campaigning for the August 20th presidential and provincial elections there has reportedly been an upsurge in violence, and rising insecurity in remote regions of the country. U.S. General Petraeus reported that this past week international forces witnessed the highest […]
Afghan Abuse and Exploitation Still Common
In a confidential report prepared for the Department of Foreign Affairs, senior officials are warning abuse in Afghanistan remains a significant problem, with trafficking and sexual exploitation of children common. More troubling than the prevalence of “illegal marriage of underage girls and the sexual abuse of young boys” is the difficulty officials have had in […]
The Role of Private Contractors and Security Firms in Afghanistan
As recently reported, both on this blog and elsewhere, Canada aims to play a role in Afghanistan even after the projected end of its military mission in 2011. Some of the ongoing projects in which Canada is involved are the construction of new schools in Kandahar, aiding in the implementation of a polio vaccination program […]
The government's response to Ceasefire.ca's CF-18 campaign
Below is the government’s response, from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to Ceasefire.ca’s campaign to stop the deployment of Canadian CF-18 bombers to Afghanistan. The government has yet to state that Canada will NOT deploy CF-18s to Afghanistan and CF-18s are only mentioned at the end of this form letter response: The Office of the Right […]