Indian-origin Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has apologised in Parliament for claiming to have been the ‘architect’ of the country’s largest battle in Afghanistan a decade ago.
Sajjan repeatedly said ‘sorry’ on the floor of the House for what he called a ‘mistake’ while being grilled by opposition lawmakers about his remark last month during a speech in India.
"I in no way would like to diminish the great work that my former superiors and our soldiers have done on operations, and I'm truly sorry for it," he said.
The Minister was forced to tender an apology by the opposition who demanded his resignation or be sacked for overstating his military record in the landlocked country.
“On my first deployment to Kandahar in 2006, I was the architect of Operation Medusa where we removed 1,500 Taliban fighters off the battlefield … and I was proudly on the main assault,” the minister had said in a speech last month in India.
The battle involving Canada’s Operation Medusa was planned and executed in 2006 by then-Maj Gen David Fraser, who was responsible for all NATO forces in southern Afghanistan. At the time of the operation, Sajjan was a major in Afghanistan, a much lower rank.
Interim Conservative opposition leader Rona Ambrose criticised Sajjan’s initial comment as ‘stolen valour’ and asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to dismiss him.
"It's come to light that the Minister of Defence has misled Canadians once again and it's a big one. How can the Prime Minister allow him to remain as Minister of Defence when he continually misstates the facts?" Ambrose said as she recalled that Sajjan made a similar claim while campaigning in 2015.
Trudeau said that Sajjan acknowledged the ‘mistake’ and continues to have his full confidence.
"The minister made a mistake. He acknowledged it and apologized for it. That's what Canadians expect. This minister has served his country in many capacities as a police officer, as a soldier, and now as a minister. And he has my full confidence," Trudeau said.
The 2006 offensive had delivered a blow to the Taliban, loosening its grip on Kandahar province, but at a cost -- a dozen Canadian and 14 British soldiers died.
