Canada quietly marks 10 years since troops left Afghanistan

It has been said that Canada’s war in Afghanistan grabbed hold of a generation of soldiers, diplomats, aid workers and even journalists and never quite let go.

That notion was on full display Sunday as several dozen veterans and dignitaries gathered on the cold, rain soaked square around the country’s national war memorial in Ottawa to mark the 10th anniversary of the withdrawal of troops from the long-suffering South Asian nation.

It was an understated ceremony, much like the one a decade ago in Kabul when the Canadian flag was hauled down for the last time at the NATO-led International Security Assistance