The Globe: The return home of the bodies of four soldiers and a journalist from Afghanistan on Sunday offered a poignant, painful reminder of a question that will dominate the coming year: Is the Kandahar commitment turning into a failure, or can it still be rescued? Grieving family and other loved ones greeted the caskets at a bitterly cold repatriation ceremony at CFB Trenton, an hour's drive east of Toronto.

The five were killed Wednesday when the armoured vehicle they were travelling in was struck by a massive roadside-bomb blast on the outskirts of Kandahar city – the third-bloodiest day for Canadian forces since the Afghan mission began in 2002. One hundred and forty Canadians have given their lives in Afghanistan, and it isn't possible to say whether they died in vain.

Clearly, the mission to bring stability to the region has not succeeded, as these latest casualties demonstrate. The Taliban are active, even resurgent, despite the best efforts of troops and reconstruction teams.
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