Throughout my experience, operating in any mission was difficult because of a number of factors. The security threat is always paramount; however, it is compounded by language and culture. Afghanistan was one of the most complex missions Canada has ever engaged in. Nowhere were we more dependent on interpreters and cultural advisers than we were in Afghanistan.
I only have to remind you about what is going on in Ukraine today in terms of the need we have to be able to communicate and the need for interpreters.
Afghanistan is a complex society with many different ethnic groups and tribes. Add to that the regional players, none of whom have English as their first language. Canada went into Afghanistan to fight an insurgency and rebuild a nation to meet Afghan desires. Doing so necessitated the use of interpreters to communicate both what the Afghans wanted and what we could do for them. Dialogue was key over what most people saw on their TV screens, which was an inordinate amount of combat. This combat was, tragically, the desire of the Taliban who wanted to overthrow the democratically elected Afghan leadership.
I want to emphasize that over and above having the language challenge, which we had at my level right down to the soldier level, was trying to understand a culture, which took up most of our time. As commander of a nine-nation coalition, I needed an interpreter, but more importantly I needed cultural advisers who could tell me more than just which words were being spoken.
Commanders at all levels and soldiers on the ground needed to be nuanced in the culture, which is very different from what we have here in Canada. Offending somebody was easily done, and the damage took a long time to repair. Without these interpreters and cultural advisers, Canada simply could not have done what we did. We did much, but that is not the purpose of the commentary today.
Canada's contribution, which was significant, could not have been effective without these people. While we started with interpreters, the groups of affected Afghans goes beyond this group. We provided opportunities that you and I take for granted in this nation: education, freedom of elections, and freedom of who can access them. Women, LGBTQ people and ethnic groups, to name just a few, gained new liberties and freedoms. We assisted Afghans to build a more inclusive society. Twenty years after the international community involved itself, the Taliban cannot do what they did in 1999, which is making it harder for them to turn the clock back. This is a result of our work with Afghans. We provided them with hope; we created a moral contract with them about what it means to be free, and in their hour of need, we as Canadians need to stand by them.
In July, two other generals, Dean Milner and Denis Thompson saw the potential for what could happen. We penned a letter to the implicated ministers asking them to create a pipeline to evacuate vulnerable Afghans. I hope that you've had time to talk to Major-General Denis Thompson, in addition to Dean and me, because he has a lot to say on this subject.
Tragically, our assessment in that letter came true, and today there is a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan as the Taliban regime has taken it over. As a consequence of these actions, we need to provide a pathway out of that country for these adversely affected people and their families.
When we started, we were tracking just over 100 interpreters. Once we got going and once we joined forces with Aman Lara, which means “sheltered path” in Pashto, as well as journalists for human rights, building markets, the Afghan interpreters and the Veterans Transition Network, our numbers grew.