Blast kills 5 Canadians in southern Afghanistan

OTTAWA – Four Canadian soldiers and a Canadian journalist were killed when their armored vehicle was hit by a bomb in southern Kandahar province on Wednesday, the Canadian Defense Ministry said.

Four other Canadian soldiers and a Canadian civilian official were wounded in the blast, which occurred about four km (2.5 miles) outside the city of Kandahar, the ministry said on its website.

Afghanistan is a scary place right now. I've kept a close eye on it for the last year because my youngest daughter was doing a tour of duty there. She's home and safe now but I still keep up with the news from there.

The situation almost confuses me. It's a third world backward country. It was yesterday, it is today and it will be tomorrow, regardless of when we decide to leave.

We cannot force our values on them at the point of a gun, yet if we quickly withdrew it would result in anarchy.

Damned if we do, damned if we don't.