Of all the countries participating in the UN-authorized and NATO-administered International Stabilization Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, Canadian troops have probably the most dangerous mission.

Other nations have lost more soldiers:

• The U.S. has had 415 soldiers die in or near Afghanistan since 2001, with 68 more dying in other conflict zones as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, its post-9/11 counter-terrorism military mission.
• Britain has lost 87 troops in Afghanistan since 2002.

Canada has seen 78 of its soldiers die on Afghan soil since 2002, along with a Canadian diplomat (a private citizen, Mike Frastacky, was murdered by the Taliban).

But some studies have found Canadian troops -- who by 2006 were playing a major role in the more dangerous southern part of the country -- are now at a much higher risk of dying in Afghanistan than either their British or U.S. counterparts.

Steven Staples, in a 2006 report he co-wrote for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said a Canadian soldier is three times more likely to be killed in Afghanistan than a British soldier -- and four and a half times more likely to die than an American.

"And a Canadian in Kandahar is six times more likely to die than an American soldier deployed to Iraq," wrote Staples, the director of the Rideau Institute on International Affairs.

A subsequent 2007 study by the Dept. of National Defence also found that Canadian soldiers operating in Kandahar were at significantly higher risk of dying compared to their British and American counterparts.

The casualties have put Canada's mission in Afghanistan at the top of the national agenda, and Canada has been lobbying aggressively for more help for its 2,500 troops in Kandahar province, one of the most violent in Afghanistan.

Burden-sharing

The notion of burden-sharing has been a hot debate within NATO, although Capt. Adam Thomson, a public affairs officer with Canadian Expeditionary Force Command, told CTV.ca that "you cannot directly compare the experiences of one contingent over another as the threat environment varies considerably in Afghanistan."

The recent Manley panel report recommended that participation past February 2009 hinge on NATO providing another 1,000 troops -- Canada's battle group, the soldiers whose primary duty is to engage in security operations, comprises about 1,000 of the 2,500 -- plus help acquire medium-lift helicopters and aerial drones.

Others have lobbied for more equitable sharing of the combat load.

"We must not -- we cannot -- become a two-tiered alliance of those willing to fight and those who are not," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday during a speech at the Munich Conference on Security Policy.

"Such a development, with all its implications for collective security, would effectively destroy the alliance.

"In NATO, some allies ought not have the luxury of opting only for stability and civilian operations, forcing other allies to bear a disproportionate share of the fighting and the dying," Gates said.

He didn't name any country, but Germany and Italy's operations are centered in the relatively calm north and west of Afghanistan. France's soldiers mainly provide security in Kabul, but France has indicated it may help Canada in Kandahar.

The United States, Britain, the Netherlands and Canada are operating in the east and south of Afghanistan, where the insurgency is much more active and dangerous. The U.S. will send an additional 3,200 Marines to the south for a seven-month deployment starting in the spring.

Here are the military deaths in and around Afghanistan by ISAF members as of Feb. 13, 2008 (NATO member nations in red, troops deployed in brackets):

Details on Canadian military deaths:

• 2002 - 4 (all died in one friendly fire incident)
• 2003 - 2 (one incident; a landmine outside Kabul)
• 2004 - 1
• 2005 - 1
• 2006 - 36 (Canada took over the Kandahar mission in earnest in February 2006; there was heavy combat, particularly in the fall. Thirteen died in roadside bombings or suicide attacks)
• 2007- 30 (24 died in roadside bombings)
• 2008 - 4 (to Jan. 23; all are roadside bombings)