Independent panel on Canada's future role in Afghanistan : Groupe consultatif indépendant sur la mission en Afghanistan : rapport final

Furthermore, events in Afghanistan, and Canada’s participation in the outcomes, will directly affect Canada’s security, our reputation in the world, and our future ability to engage the international community in achieving objectives of peace, security and shared prosperity. [...] During our visit to Kabul and to Kandahar and other provinces, we were profoundly impressed by the professionalism and commitment of the Canadian soldiers and civilians serving there—and by the tenacity and optimism of the Afghans we met there. [...] In this defining way, and in others, the international presence in Afghanistan differs from the later invasion and occupation of Iraq by the United States and its coalition partners in that war. [...] Afghanistan’s national assembly was elected in 2005.) The ISAF presence in Afghanistan has the consent of the Afghan government and the support of the Afghan people. [...] Their objectives are to unsettle the population, shake popular confidence in the safety that can be provided by the government, and discourage the populations of ISAF countries enough to cause the withdrawal of their forces from the fight.