For Canadians, the war we are desperate to forget is finally over. 
 
 The Canadian flag was lowered in Kabul Wednesday. The approximately 100 Canadian troops remaining in Afghanistan began their long journey home. 
 
 There were no marching bands, no flowers, no cheering throngs. 
 
 Journalists present were told that, for security reasons, they could not report on the event until it was well over. Afghanistan is still that dangerous. 
 
 In Ottawa, the denouement to Canada’s 12-year involvement in the Afghan War produced a government response so low-key as to be almost invisible. 
 
 Prime Minister Stephen Harper chose to be in Vancouver promoting his recently signed free-trade deal with South Korea. 
 
 He did manage to issue a press release praising the troops. 
 
 And that was it — the Last Post for the longest war Canada has ever waged. 
 
 From the start, the Afghan War was a misguided enterprise. It was begun in haste and prosecuted with little thought as to consequences. 
 
 Ostensibly a war of self-defence, it was entered into with gusto by the U.S. and its allies after the 9/11 attacks on Washington and New York. But eventually and inexorably, it bogged down. 
 
 The initial war aim, to capture Al Qaeda mastermind Osama Bin Laden in his Afghan lair, was never achieved. Bin Laden was eventually found not in Afghanistan but in a posh Pakistani suburb. 
 
 He was killed not by NATO battalions scouring caves but by a handful of U.S. Navy Seals acting on intelligence. 
 
 Meanwhile, as the war ground on, its rationale shifted. 
 
 Sometimes Ottawa said Canadian troops were there to defeat Taliban “scumbags.” 
 
 Sometimes it said they were there to prevent terrorists from attacking us here at home. 
 
 Sometimes it said they were there to better the lot of Afghan women. 
 
 No government had clean hands. A Liberal government committed Canadian battle troops to Kandahar, in Afghanistan’s deadly south. 
 
 A Conservative government, with Liberal backing, kept them there for five years. 
 
 Canadian troops fought bravely. They are a well-trained and professional force. 
 
 But they were ill-served by political masters who could never quite figure out why we were in this particular war. 
 
 At times, it seemed as if Canada were taking part simply to burnish its political credentials within NATO. 
 
 When Canada’s soldiers came home, the government thanked them by cutting their pensions. 
 
 Many wars are popular in the beginning. Canada’s initial reaction to the Afghan adventure was one of pride and patriotism. 
 
 Those who dared to question any part of the war were labelled pro-Taliban traitors. 
 
 When the New Democrats eventually called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict, their then leader, Jack Layton, was dismissed by media jingos as Taliban Jack. 
 
 But eventually, reality began to sink in. Nothing in Afghanistan was cut and dried. The good guys weren’t always good. The bad guys were, in some parts of the country, surprisingly popular. 
 
 If we were there to protect women, why was the Afghan government we backed passing laws to suppress them? 
 
 If we were there to help the Afghans, why did so many seem to hate us? 
 
 Then the Americans abruptly reversed course, announcing their support for a political settlement with the very Taliban they had chased from office. 
 
 Democratic societies are willing to go to war if there is a reason. But after a decade of fighting, the rationale for this war dissolved in confusion. 
 
 Which brings us to Wednesday and Canada’s final flag-lowering in Kabul. Over 12 years, 158 Canadian soldiers have been killed and 2,179 injured in Afghanistan. The United Nations reports that over only part of that period, at least 14,064 Afghan civilians have been killed, mainly by insurgents. 
 
 It is a grim tally for a pointless war. ||||| Canadian troops capped a deadly and dangerous 12-year mission in Afghanistan on Wednesday, hauling down the Canadian flag at NATO headquarters in Kabul during a ceremony that was held under heavy guard. 
 
 "We were quite explicitly told today in Kabul that we could not even report on this ceremony until after it was done because of security concerns," CBC correspondent Paul Hunter said from Kabul on Wednesday. 
 
 Looking back at Afghanistan CBC News Network's Power & Politics and CBC Radio's The House will look back at Canada's mission in Afghanistan and whether it was a success. Listen to the House's special edition on Afghanistan on March 29 at 9 a.m. ET on CBC Radio One. Watch and take part in Power & Politics' special townhall edition on Canada's mission in Afghanistan on March 31 starting at 5 p.m. ET on CBC News Network. 
 
 "After all this time, they are still worried about security here in Kabul, and I'll tell you, the streets are filled with checkpoints and barbed wire and giant concrete blocks." 
 
 The ceremony, held under sunny skies, ended with Canadians involved in the NATO training mission leaving aboard a U.S. Chinook helicopter. The remaining Canadian personnel will leave by the end of the week. 
 
 Still, Canadian and allied dignitaries praised the country's involvement and sacrifices. 
 
 "Your strength has protected the weak; your bravery has brought hope to hopeless; and the helping hand you have extended to the Afghan people has given them faith that a better future is within their grasp," Deborah Lyons, the Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan told an assembly of the last 100 soldiers who served on a three-year training mission. 
 
 The war cost the lives of 158 soldiers, one diplomat, one journalist and two civilian contractors. 
 
 "We can wish that the families of the fallen do not lament their fate, but we know that this is not the case. The only small comfort comes from the knowledge that the sacrifices of lost loved ones has been worthwhile, that they made a difference, and that their grief is shared by a grateful nation. 
 
 Maj.-Gen. Dean Milner, the last Canadian commander in Afghanistan, says it's important Canada and the rest of the international community remain engaged to complete the work started during the war. (The Canadian Press) 
 
 "It is said that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. Your actions and those of your fallen colleagues have stopped the triumph of evil." 
 
 Canadian commandos, hunting al-Qaeda, were the first troops to hit the ground in late 2001 and they were followed by as many as 40,000 more rotating through different campaigns, including the five-year combat mission in Kandahar. 
 
 Hunter reported that despite rampant violence, high levels of corruption and a strong drug trade, officials feel Afghanistan is a much different place from what it was in 2001, with a much stronger Afghan army. 
 
 British Lt.-Gen. John Lorimer, the deputy commander of NATO in Afghanistan, said the Canadians "repeatedly proved their courage and capability" alongside coalition and Afghan troops, especially in Kandahar "where you not only fought hard, but you fought smart." 
 
 'Mixed emotions' 
 
 Calling it the end of a significant era, Lorimer said he viewed the departure of the Canadians with "mixed emotions" given the shared experiences of the last 12 years. 
 
 "I am sad to see you return home, yet grateful for the opportunity to have served alongside such great Canadian leaders along the way," he said. 
 
 The last Canadian commander, Maj.-Gen. Dean Milner, said the progress made is not irreversible and the West needs to continue nurturing both military and civilian institutions. 
 
 Milner told CBC News Network that the country is on the right track with security forces that will ably handle the country's upcoming elections. 
 
 "It's a capable Afghan national army and police force that's getting ready and absolutely capable of dominating a resilient Taliban force," he said. 
 
 Lyons said Canada will remain engaged in Afghanistan and the focus will be on helping build the ruined nation's economy, particularly in the resource sector. 
 
 Similar flag ceremonies were planned for today in Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick.
– After 12 years and 162 deaths, Canada formally ended its involvement in Afghanistan yesterday, hauling down the Canadian flag at NATO headquarters in a low-key ceremony journalists were ordered not to report on at the time because of security concerns. Canadian soldiers joined the hunt for Osama bin Laden in late 2001 and more than 40,000 rotated through the country in the following years. The last remaining Canadian personnel, who had been training Afghan forces, will leave the country at the end of this week, reports the CBC. "Canada played a critical role in securing Kandahar Province and had a strategic impact across the country with their contribution to the NATO training mission," the top US commander in Afghanistan said at the flag-lowering ceremony. But at home, the public had long questioned Canada's involvement in what turned out to be the country's longest war, and its biggest overseas deployment since 1945. "Canadian troops fought bravely," writes Thomas Walkom at the Toronto Star. "But they were ill-served by political masters who could never quite figure out why we were in this particular war."