Brig. Gen. Daniel Menard, who is married with two children, was Canada's top soldier with a decorated 26-year career. He was based in southern Afghanistan and was due to lead what's expected to be one of the largest battles so far of the nine-year Afghan war. NATO's push to oust Taliban fighters from their spiritual stronghold in Kandahar is expected to start within weeks.
But Menard, 42, was relieved of his command over the weekend after Canada's military brass became aware of allegations that he was having an affair with a female subordinate on his command staff.
Kirsty Wigglesworth, AP
Brig. Gen. Daniel Menard, commander of Canada's Task Force Afghanistan, was removed from his post amid allegations that the married father of two had an affair with a female soldier on his staff.
He's believed to be the first Canadian officer to be dismissed on the battlefield since World War II.
The military issued a brief statement late Saturday saying that Menard has been replaced as commander of the Joint Task Force Afghanistan after allegations concerning "inappropriate conduct" related to Canada's policies on personal relationships and fraternization.
The military has lost confidence in Menard's capacity to command, and "an investigation into the circumstances related to the allegations is being launched," it said. The statement appeared on the Canadian military's website, and details of the allegations appeared in several Canadian newspapers.
The scandal comes just a week after Menard was fined $3,500 by the military for accidentally firing his rifle near a group of officers at a Kandahar air base as they waited to board a U.S. Army helicopter. No one was hurt. The commander had just returned from Canada on a three-week vacation, during which time he faced a court martial over the rifle incident.
Now he and the female soldier allegedly involved, who wasn't identified, have both been ordered to leave Afghanistan immediately. They face possible courts martial.
"Sexual activity or any other form of intimate contact in any context with another individual is prohibited anywhere in the Joint Task Force Afghanistan Area of Operations," reads NATO's policy for troops on deployment.
Menard is married to a fellow Canadian soldier, Maj. Julie Fortin, who commands a logistics company at a military base in Quebec. The couple have two children.
Besides being a national embarrassment for Canada, Menard's removal wields a blow to NATO's preparations for the upcoming Kandahar offensive. As a commander there, Menard was in charge of American troops as well as Canada's 2,800 soldiers, who are due to be withdrawn from Afghanistan next year.
It also could increase scrutiny of the lifestyle of soldiers in Afghanistan. The U.S. general who oversees all NATO troops in the country, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, recently ordered the closing of fast-food outlets and other comforts at U.S bases there.
Menard was a rising star in Canada's military, reportedly well-liked across ranks. His signature project in Afghanistan was creating a "ring of stability" around Kandahar city, considered a crucial stronghold for both the Taliban and NATO forces. He also served previously in Germany, Bosnia and Haiti.
Canadian military experts said his storied career is probably over.
"This is not something he will survive," Michel Drapeau, a retired colonel and military law expert at the University of Ottawa, told The Toronto Star. "There is no harsher penalty, as I see it."
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