Today represents a watershed moment in Canadian foreign policy, although the press does not seem to be very interested in the event. Today, the Canadian military has officially withdrawn from the theatre of war in Afghanistan, after occupying the country since 2001.
Did we win? We lost several hundred troops who were either killed or wounded in action, and so did the Afghani forces. The Taliban, at the very least, seems to have lost its religious leadership, and now functions as a guerilla military group. Afghanistan still maintains its position as the world's leading supplier of opium.
Red Fridays represent a non-partisan public movement to offer support to our troops overseas. From what I know, the movement began on the East Coast of Canada, where the families of soldiers in Afghansitan began to wear read as a show of support. The idea seems to have blossomed in 2006, which was when my wife and I began to wear red every Friday, roughly 250 times by now.
Can we stop wearing red now that the troops are coming home? So far, apparently not. Some troops are being seconded to NATO and will remain in Afghanistan. Others are engaged in attacks on Libya. No matter how we feel about Canadian foreign policy, as long as our brave armed forces remain committed to the field of war, those of us who remain at home should continue to wear red in their honour.
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