Over and over again, without cease or relent, we must ensure that our Armed Forces know of the deep gratitude of the Canadian people for the Forces’ hard work, courage and resolve so far away in the harsh, crusted gravel and sun-bleached sand in Afghanistan.

And, of course, they must also know of our equally deep sorrow when, inevitably, they fall in the line of their important duties.

Last week was a particularly difficult week for our soldiers. Three of our troops – Sapper Stephan Stock, Cpl. Dustin Wasden and Sgt. Shawn Eades – were killed and one was injured, when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device (IED) hidden in the the road they were travelling west of Kandahar.

Since Canadian troops entered Afghanistan in 2002 as part of the NATO mission there, 93 Canadian soldiers and one envoy have been killed.

Our soldiers were killed on the same day that three Polish soldiers were killed in the central part of the country when they hit an IED.

Two days earlier, 10 French soldiers were killed and 21 injured in an ambush about 50 kilometres east of Kabul.

 One week before that the Taliban ruthlessly gunned down four aid workers, including two Canadians, not far from Kabul. The vehicle in which the workers were travelling was clearly marked as a civilian vehicle. In fact, the Taliban murderers took great pains to register their kills, breaking the windows of the car before aiming their weapons at their helpless, unarmed victims.

As many observers have noted and as the rising tally of NATO and other western casualties attests, the Taliban seem to have regrouped and reinvigorated their campaign against Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s regime and its NATO allies. Of course, it has also been noted that the Taliban do not restrict their violence to non-Afghans. Their contempt extends to anyone who shows loyalty to the government. And thus, they slaughter Afghans too.

The uncertainty and the confusion surrounding the transition in Pakistan away from the tight, military rule of former president Pervez Musharraf is a perfect circumstance for the Taliban and their supporters in which to augment their forces and extend their bloody reach.

“The work that you’re doing here is indispensable,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy told his troops in Afghanistan standing in profound melancholy alongside the flag-draped coffins of their fallen comrades. We applaud his words.

And we apply them with similar humility, sadness and resolve to the work of the Canadian Armed Forces. Though so very far from our shores, it is true in every conceivable sense, that they stand on guard for us and indeed for all democracies.

Thus we say to our soldiers thank you, for we are deeply grateful.