Prime Minister Harper praises Canadian troops in Afghanistan in his nationwide television address.

OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper linked the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with Canada’s controversial Afghanistan mission, praising Canadian "heroes" for standing up against the "menace of terror" in the deserts of Kandahar.

The connection between today’s hard-fought NATO military campaign in Afghanistan and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon that killed almost 3,000 people were underscored by the presence of the families of deployed Canadian soldiers and of the 24 Canadians killed in the World Trade Center, who flanked the prime minister as he spoke Monday in the Hall of Honor in the Center Block of Parliament Hill.

"Their presence here also reminds us that real people, Canadian men and women with families and children, are courageously putting themselves forward to make that part of the world a safer place," Harper said.

MICHAEL McCAFFERTY says: Canadians can be proud of the heroic courage of our troops in Afghanistan. My nephew is currently there with the Canadian Army. Prime Minister Harper spoke for most Canadians when he said these troops are "Canadian heroes".