As a deadly year in Afghanistan winds down, reports confirm five more Canadians have been killed. Four soldiers and a Calgary Herald journalist, Michelle Lang, died in an explosion Dec. 30 in Kandahar Province.

With October 2009 marking the bloodiest month of eight years of the latest Afghan War, new revelations suggest that opponents of this war have not only been proven right, but that we have been understating the case against this military occupation.

Nowhere is this truer than with Canada’s ‘mission’ in Kandahar, where the true nature of this western intervention has been laid bare.

On Thursday (Sept 17), Canadian soldier Jonathan Couturier was killed by an IED in Kandahar. The following day, the soldier's family in Quebec had caused a stir by revealing Couturier's lack of enthusiasm for the war in Afghanistan, to which the relatives added their own criticisms.

On Friday, July 17 in Kandahar City, Canadian soldiers forming a protective cordon fired on an approaching minivan, killing one civilian and injuring three others. Military officials say they suspect that the driver may have been testing the force's procedures, thus the man killed may not have been an innocent civilian. Details are scarce, but the military's story seems suspect on the face of it: Why would five men risk their lives to gain such intelligence when just one or perhaps two would suffice?

CIA-trained assassins?

Youssef and Shukoor have the clearest report on the recent controversy surrounding US-backed Afghan troops' egregious behaviour:

Afghans blame U.S.-led coalition for police chief's killing
By Nancy A. Youssef and Hashim Shukoor - McClatchy Newspapers

KABUL, Afghanistan, June 29 - The Afghan government Monday blamed U.S.-led coalition forces for the killing of Kandahar's police chief and criminal investigations director on coalition forces, saying the Afghan guards that shot them to death were working for and trained by the coalition...