In the dust of Kandahar on a day in late May, when the mid-afternoon temperature topped 40C, Stephen Harper tried to get ahead of history.
As Canadian troops prepare to pivot, moving from a combat role to a training role in two months, the Prime Minister all but declared victory for this mission, both in front of some 500 soldiers at New Canada House and more passionately to reporters afterward.
“We have to look at this mission as a great success,” Harper said.
Canadians took on the toughest province in Afghanistan, he said.
But the success was much greater than that, he added.
“The world came to Afghanistan because Afghanistan had become such a terrible and brutal place. It had become a threat to the entire world.
“Whatever the challenges and troubles that remain, Afghanistan is no longer a threat to the world. This country does not represent a geostrategic risk to the world. It is no longer a source of global terrorism.”
Such forthright, even jingoistic, statements do not come easily for this Prime Minister, and he even made sure he got his message across by repeating it, unprompted, in English after answering a question in French.
As a chapter is being turned in Canadian military history, the cost of this mission in lives and dollars will be debated for years.
Canada has been here in various missions since 2002. Some 3,000 combat troops will begin moving out by July 31, and 950 trainers, who will work with the Afghan National Army, will be moving in.
Another 156 Canadians never made it home alive.
Harper laid a wreath in their honour Monday.
But even as he listed a litany of accomplishments, Harper said it would be a “delusion” if anyone thinks the global threat of terrorism has been eradicated, despite the Canadian accomplishments and the recent killing of Osama bin Laden.
“Canada has young men and women like you who will march to ends of the earth, even to Ma’Sum Ghar or Sperwan Ghar, to defend what makes Canada the best country in the world,” Harper told the soldiers.
“Let no one forget it.”
Attention at the Canadian base is now focused on a training mission that is scheduled to last through 2014.
Harper acknowledged the risk in that role, too, as did the deputy commander in charge of the training mission.
“If we don’t do what the plans calls for, there is no chance of hope (in Afghanistan),” said Col. Peter Dawe.
“The long-term success in Afghanistan is contingent on this training mission.”
The Canadian trainers will be based largely at the Consolidated Fielding Centre in Kabul, but there will also be Canadians in Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat.
Dawe knows this is not a totally “benign” operation, but they will try to reduce risk by eliminating unnecessary travel and staying largely at the Kabul centre.
“The insurgents have a vote (in this),” he said.
The Canadian presence here — a six-month combat mission, hunting Al Qaeda fighters — was first established in 2002 under Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien.
The second wave to Afghanistan came under another Liberal prime minister, Paul Martin.
On Monday Harper singled out three soldiers for their accomplishments and bravery.
He cited Capt. Nichola Goddard, a 26-year-old from Calgary who was killed in a successful fight with the Taliban in May 2006, becoming the first Canadian woman to die on the front lines of combat.
He paid tribute to Maj. Michael Wright of Oakville, who led his men to victory over a much larger Taliban force in October 2006 in fighting in Panjwaii.
Wright refused reinforcements, citing safety concerns, but ultimately led his unit to a major victory without suffering a single casualty.
Wright was awarded the Medal of Military Valour.
That medal was also awarded to Sgt. Martin Cote, a Quebec medic who saved four lives even after his own vehicle was hit by a homemade bomb in June 2008.
Harper remembered the bravery of Cote, who shook off the effects of a severe concussion and treated four fellow soldiers while under enemy fire in Zhari district.
Harper arrived here after an overnight flight from Athens, joined by Chief of Defence Staff Walter Natynczyk and Defence Minister Peter MacKay.
He was accompanied by a trio of Olympic hockey gold medallists: Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames, and Jayna Hefford and Marie-Philip Poulin from the Canadian Olympic women’s team.
Harper choppered to Tarnak Farms, once a Taliban stronghold southwest of here. It will also be remembered as the site of the friendly fire deaths that shocked Canadians early in the Afghan war.
On that night in April 2002, four Canadian soldiers were killed and eight injured when an American pilot mistakenly bombed them during training exercises.
Today, it resembles a small Saskatchewan wheat field. Harper met with a local Afghan farmer who thanked him for allowing him to grow wheat on the land.
As they prepare to switch roles in Afghanistan, Canadian commanders trot out statistics to which they point with pride.
In Panjwaii, they said only one school out of 32 was open in August 2010. That number had jumped to eight out of 32 open by last month.
The number of uniformed Afghan police in the region jumped to 541 from 165 between April and last September, they say.
And they proudly point to Route Hyena, an 18-kilometre, largely paved road on the western edge of the Horn of Panjwaii in what used to be a Taliban stronghold.
Harper said there are 150,000 teachers in this country, seven times the number a decade ago.
He said Canada alone has built or repaired 50 schools, helped in the rebuilding of 4,000 more across the country, and trained more than 1,500 doctors, nurses, midwives and community health workers.
Harper praised the young men and women who journeyed here to fight, keeping a pledge made by their country.
“We said we would stand with our allies,” he said. “We would go to Afghanistan. And we would take on the forces of terror in their own backyard.
“And that you did.”
Tim Harper is a syndicated columnist for The Toronto Star.