OTTAWA—Canada’s response to the 2021 collapse of the Afghan government was dogged by a failure to anticipate the rapid advance of the Taliban, poor policy and operational planning within the public service, and a lack of political direction and co-ordination from a Liberal government that was in election mode, says an internal government report released to the Star.
A redacted copy of the report, dated 2022 and released under access-to-information laws, found there are “many lessons” to be learned from the Afghan crisis response. The “after action” investigation was led by Privy Council Office (PCO) deputy clerk Nathalie Drouin and a small group of senior public servants with the help of an unnamed outside adviser.
