CFB GAGETOWN, N.B. - Almost 100 soldiers will depart Canadian Forces Base Gagetown on Monday night for Afghanistan, the start of a wave of troops that will relieve the first rotation of military personnel who have been training the country's security forces since last summer.
The soldiers and their loved ones will assemble at the New Brunswick military base before embarking on a mission aimed at strengthening the ability of the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police to quell the insurgency.
Around 950 military personnel have been stationed in and around Kabul since July, providing classroom instruction to Afghan soldiers and police while also mentoring medical staff.
Small contingents of Canadian trainers have also been deployed to the cities of Mazar-e-Sharif in the north and Herat in the west, near the border with Iran.
Troops have arrived in the area in rotations and serve an average of eight months in theatre.
One soldier died last fall as part of the training mission, which the federal government initially described as "low risk."
Master Cpl. Byron Greff of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry was killed when the vehicle he was riding in was struck by a powerful suicide car bomb on Oct. 29.
Lee Windsor, deputy director of the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society at the University of New Brunswick, said Canada's sacrifices in Afghanistan have earned troops respect with their Afghan counterparts.
"That record of combat experience and that knowledge of the unique circumstances of the Afghan environment gives Canadian advisers in the Afghan training schools the credibility they need in order to be respected," Windsor said.
Though Canada has shifted its focus on training, fighting in Afghanistan has continued amid talk of negotiations with the Taliban and preparations for the handover of greater security responsibilities to the Afghan government.
The United Nations released a report earlier this month that concluded that last year was the deadliest on record for Afghan civilians, with 3,021 killed -- an increase of eight per cent from the year before.
Canada's training mission is scheduled to conclude in 2014.
