Defence minister apologizes for claiming he was ‘architect’ of pivotal Afghan battle

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan offered a full apology to his former comradesin-arms on Saturday, after claiming to have been the “architect” of Canada’s largest battle in Afghanistan.

The mea culpa, posted to Facebook, followed what some had seen as a half-hearted apology by Sajjan on Friday for comments he made in a speech earlier this month to a think-tank in India.

“On my first deployment to Kandahar in 2006, I was kind of thrown in an unforeseen situation and became the architect of an operation called Operation Medusa, where we removed about 1,500 fighters, Taliban fighters, off the battlefield,” Sajjan said during his speech in Delhi on April 18.

Those comments, which were not improvised but part of a prepared speech for the event at the Indian think-tank Observer Research Foundation, reportedly sparked grumblings among some Afghan veterans.

The National Post quoted several current and former soldiers who noted that Operation Medusa was actually planned and executed by then-major-general David Fraser.

Sajjan initially expressed “regret” for overstating his role in the operation after video of his speech in India emerged this week, but he went farther in Saturday’s Facebook post.

“I made a mistake in describing my role. I wish to retract that description and apologize for it. I am truly sorry,” Sajjan wrote.

“While I am proud of the role I played during my deployments to Afghanistan, my comments were in no way intended to diminish the roles of my former superiors and fellow soldiers. To them I offer my sincere apologies.”