Directorate of History and Heritage launches new history series

January 26, 2026 - Defence Stories
Estimated read time - 2:15

By Dr. Dara Price, Director of History and Heritage

The Directorate of History and Heritage (DHH) is launching a new history series showcasing current research projects. Through this new series, DHH offers Defence Team members a sneak peak into the Directorate's ongoing work, using excerpts from larger projects.

First edition: The Origins of the International Security Assistance Force

The first in the series comes from historian Dr. Ken Reynolds' project 'A Small, Symbolic Presence' - telling the story of the first months, from November 2001 to January 2002, of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and draws on research currently underway on a multi-volume history of CAF operations in Southwest Asia, focusing on the international aspects of the story.

'A small, symbolic presence': The Origins of the International Security Assistance Force

On January 4, 2002, officials signed an agreement in Kabul, the Afghan capital, detailing the relationship between the new International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the Afghan civilian administration. ISAF began as a multinational mission led by individual or coalition partner nations, until its leadership was assumed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 2003. From then until 2014 ISAF continued to develop, its area of responsibility eventually encompassing all of Afghanistan, and its activities expanding far beyond its original mandate.

This article looks at ISAF's complicated origins in the weeks leading up to its initial deployment in Kabul as a multinational mission limited in terms of duration, geography, and goals. Initially commanded by the British and incorporating personnel from various troop-contributing nations, ISAF originated separately from the missions undertaken by the United Nations and the USA. All of this was done in the context of the creation of a fledgling post-Taliban Afghan government.

Evidence for this article has been gathered from various open-source primary and secondary archival and published sources. It forms part of the research being done by the Southwest Asia history team at the DHH in preparation for forthcoming volumes on the entirety of the CAF mission in the region between 2001 and 2014. To read the full article: International Security Assistance Force History - Canada.ca.

DHH's core mission

DHH's core mission is to preserve and share the official history of Canada's armed forces. In pursuit of this, our team of historians work full time on a wide variety of in-depthresearch projects, often resulting in book-length narratives about CAF operations. Ranging from post-1945 histories of the navy and the air force, to various peace support operations, to the more recent operations in Afghanistan, these projects require years of intensive research and writing. Historians delve deeply into war diaries, oral testimonies, and other unique, archival sources. Canada has employed official historians dating back to 1918, and past publications by DHH and its predecessors have proved invaluable to people seeking to understand Canada's relationship with war.

Through this series, DHH is pleased to be able to highlight current research into the history of CAF operations.