The Afghans will decide what's best for their country, the people who intend to live there as citizens.
Exactly. That's Canada, US and NATO policy in Afghanistan. So what's the dispute? Our UN mandate requires us to be there at the invitation of the Afghan government. When they decided we should leave we will go. I assure you, nobody wants to stay a minute longer.
The biggest problem an uneducated population faces is that they usually live in poverty where basic physical needs overrides their need for political insight.
No kidding. And that's one of the biggest challenges for the Canadian battle group and the Canadian led provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan. You should note, that the number of girls enrolled in school, and number of kids enrolled in total is higher than it has been in decades. And that's with the Taliban killing teachers who teach girls and blowing up girls schools.
As for political insight, you are right their basic needs overwhelm political aspirations. When the Taliban are going to kill you for not having a beard, or sending your daughter to school, security is first and foremost. Next comes food and shelter. NATO handles the first, the NGOs do the latter with some NATO help. And NATO is also working hard to rebuild the civic infrastructure to allow political governance to improve. Canada provides the Afghan ministers with military officers to train their staff in such basics as taking minutes for meetings, writing memos, how to draft and evaluate policy, etc. In fact, the Afghan ministers like the Canadians so much, that they don't use anyone else and don't want these advisers to leave, though Canada wanted to pull them back this year. Some have joked, that these Canadian officers are so good, that we should assign them to ministers in Ottawa.
The Afghans will survive this almost unstoppable war conflict resolution delusion others impose on her.
The Taliban brought this war on Afghanistan by harbouring their global jihadi cousing, Al Qaeda. And yes, the Afghan people will survive this conflict, because they are much tougher than many of the armchair critics in the West. What have you done to help the Afghans lately?
The society is damaged and will require thoughtful monetary mending if and when the bombs and bullets dry up.
Like the billions in aid pouring in now? There is a property boom of sorts in Kabul from all the money sloshing around. And we aren't waiting for the bombs and bullets to dry up, we have begun rebuilding already.
Political accommodation and solid policing is always the way to resolve violence in a society but thanks to the Bush administration our stupid governments, both the Liberals and now the Conservatives we are stuck in Afghanistan not understanding why we are there.
Political accomodation? Please tell me who we should negotiate with. The Afghan government, NATO and the Canadian force commander has repeatedly said the Taliban are welcome to join the government if they put down their arms. Somehow, they don't seem to return our phone calls....
And you may not know why we are in this war, but our governments certainly do. Remember that day in September 2001....when 3000 innocent souls perished including over 30 Canadians. Remember the panic in downtown Toronto when we wondered if we were next, as the city shut down the subway and deployed police everywhere. All that emanating from Afghanistan. We are there to prevent a repeat of that. The west wants to rebuild and create a strong and stable Afghanistan, that won't become a refuge for anti-western jihadis.
This is what our leaders should be discussing frankly with Canadians. October 09 will give us plenty of time to access the problem of Afghanistan.
Yes, they should tell the public, and repeatedly remind them why we are there. They should remind them of how brutal the Taliban were towards the Afghans. They should remind them of 9/11. They should remind them that AQ has attacked every country on its list except Canada. They should remind Canadians that we have offered peace to the Taliban, including offers of political power, money and amnesty, but they have refused all of them in favour of jihad. The government should remind Canadians the old maxim that tyranny anywhere is a threat to freedom everywhere. And they should show Canadians lots of pictures of hope filled Afghan school kids and ask them what they would do if these children were their own. The polls would be a lot different then....
And you should tell us, what you would do. You have been on here a number of times criticizing the mission but offering no solution to help the Afghan people. Do you want us to abandon them to the Taliban? Answer: yes or no.
