Canada in Afghanistan: The War So Far.

J.L. Granatstein is a history professor at York University and author of
War and Peacekeeping and For Better or For Worse.

Peter Pigott is an Ottawa-based aviation writer who found ways to become embedded as a journalist with Canadian troops in Afghanistan in 2006. His book seems somewhat outdated—the Canadian commitment then was to end in 2009—but three years later, much of what he says still has relevance. For example, Pigott followed the Strategic Advisory Team that offered government-building advice to Kabul, a brilliant suggestion made by General Rick Hillier that the Afghans eagerly seized. Infighting in Ottawa between National Defence and Foreign Affairs, however, killed the SAT, and likely hurt Afghan development. Pigott also talks at some length about the Civil Military Cooperation (CIMIC) work done in country by the Canadian Provincial Reconstruction Team based in Kandahar and offers—in a CIMIC officer’s words—a first-rate description of how development can be done in a war zone.

The book is well-written, offers good sense, and has some fine colour photographs.