LCol Barry Pitcher (L) presents Mr Wayn Hamilton (R) with a gift; from Corporal Bradley Upshall, 36 Canadian Brigade Group Public Affairs
A former advisor to the Afghan police said it’s gut-wrenching to watch the Taliban retake the country.
Barry Pitcher, Inspector with the Halifax RCMP and Infantry Officer with the Canadian Forces Infantry Reserves (Lieutenant Colonel as Commanding Officer of the Princess Louise Fusiliers), spent a year in Kandahar at the height of hostilities in 2007 and 2008.
Pitcher told Melody and Forman in the Morning they tried to give the Afghanistan government the tools it needed to carry on.
“It’s heartbreaking for someone like me, and I’m sure many veterans will agree,” he said. “How fast a regime like the Taliban can take over and essentially wipe that out.”
Pitcher said, even with that, it wasn’t a waste.
He said they helped people.
“It will seem like we wasted our time there, but I’m of a different opinion,” he said. “I think that when we went over there, we engaged, we mentored, we fought and won, and we did what we were supposed to do.”
Pitcher says he’s proud of what they did accomplish building schools, educating girls, and protecting innocent people.
