Canada 's military involvement in Afghanistan began in 2002 with the International Security Assistance Force ( ISAF ) , a coalition of soldiers from 42 countries , which was tasked as a counterinsurgency effort in response to the September 11 attacks . ISAF had initially been established as a stabilization force by the United Nations Security Council on 20 December 2001 , to secure Kabul . The Canadian Liberal government at the time , under Prime Minister Jean Chrétien , chose to have the Canadian Forces ( CF ) hand over its prisoners to the United States , who led the fight against al-Qaeda and other insurgents . After NATO took command of Afghanistan in 2003 , Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse at the hands of the United States armed forces in Iraq came to the attention of the public , and Canada soon faced pressure to hand their prisoners to someone else . Canada entered into an agreement with the Afghan government and started transferring detainees to Afghan security forces , which comprised the Afghan National Army ( ANA ) and the Afghan National Directorate of Security ( NDS )
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Canadian Afghan detainee issue