Canadian officials repeatedly ignored warnings against the dangers of tying Canada's signature project in Afghanistan to a controversial security firm with close ties to the Karzai regime, the Toronto Star has learned.

The red flags over the hiring of Watan Risk Management as Afghan security partner on the $50-million drive to rebuild Kandahar's broken Dahla Dam irrigation system include "an extensive paper trail of warning emails" more than one year ago from Canadian advisers to the project, according to one source with intimate knowledge of the deal.

Read the entire Toronto Star article here.