"Canada and its allies are fighting at the request of the United Nations Security Council, which has used repeated resolutions, the most recent one enacted last month, to authorize an International Stability and Assistance Force."
This is technically true, but saying only this leaves out the harsh realities that are far more important.
The UN was pushed into this by Bush whose people were pressuring and threatening and bribing countries around the globe for the vote.
When the Brits first joined Bush in the invasion, we know they did so in part because they seriously feared America was ready to use nuclear weapons on Afghanistan otherwise.
Canada made this commitment under intense pressure, officials in Ottawa saying at the time "we owe one to the Pentagon."
The U.S. never had a clear purpose, beyond revenge, when it invaded Afghanistan. It had made almost no real effort to use diplomacy, legal channels, and economic pressure to seek justice over 9/11.
So far it has achieved nothing but dispersing the Taleban and killing a lot of civilians. Much of the support of moderates there has been lost with its insane propensity to bomb everything that moves, which generally turns out to be civilians.
The Kabul government today is no more genuinely in charge of the country than it was five years ago.
But Canada has been recognized in America - always desperately looking for countries to join in the killing - and that is the only genuine purpose of this "mission."
So, indeed, the purpose, what there was of it, has been achieved.
