Today let us remember by recommiting ourselves to stop the war in Afghanistan and by working to end all wars.
133 DEAD
As you may know, 133 Canadian soldiers have been killed in the war in Afghanistan.
969 WOUNDED
Less commonly seen is the number of soldiers that have been wounded in the war.
Senator Colin Kenny writes in the Ottawa Citizen today that, “by the end of 2008, nearly 969 Canadian soldiers had been wounded in Afghanistan.”
180 WITH THE MOST SERIOUS INJURIES
Kenny also writes that, “at last count 180 of them have suffered the most serious kinds of injuries Veterans Affairs Canada describes as some combination of ‘amputations, significant brain trauma or complex psychological injuries’. This number may grow. Psychological injuries sometimes show up months or even years after return.”
3,640 WITH MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS
Given past post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) statistics, a recently released House of Commons Defence Committee report estimates that out of the approximately 27,000 Canadian Forces personnel deployed to Afghanistan since 2002, approximately 1,120 could exhibit PTSD symptoms, 1,176 depression symptoms, 1,824 could show signs of one or both conditions, and 3,640 could exhibit a mental health concern of some kind.
CIVILIAN DEATHS
It is also very important to remember the Afghan civilians killed in this war.
The United Nations reports that 1,013 Afghan civilians have been killed in the war in just the first six months of 2009.
They also report that 2,118 civilians were killed in the war in 2008, and 1,523 civilian were killed in 2007.
REMEMBER AND ACT
Write Prime Minister Stephen Harper at pm@pm.gc.ca and your own Member of Parliament to tell them that you support the immediate, safe and orderly withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan.
Please see our action alert making this demand at http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=2173.