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Good A Stan Article in Halifax Daily News

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JOHN BOILEAU <index.cfm?cid=129>
The Daily News

Misinformation bombards us on a daily basis about Afghanistan and our mission there. Much of it can be attributed to a few reasons - naivete, misunderstanding of Canadian history, distortion of the facts and unwillingness to consider the overall picture.

One of the frequently heard criticisms is that we can't conquer Afghanistan because neither the British nor the Russians were able to do so after prolonged campaigns. This is truly comparing the proverbial apples and oranges - and is irrelevant as well.

We're not trying to "conquer" Afghanistan. We are there at the request of a democratically elected government to help provide a safe and secure environment in which peace can flourish - and in which Afghans can decide the future of their country.

Our presence - and that of 36 other nations - is legitimized by eight separate UN Security Council resolutions.

Many people have forgotten that the previous Liberal government authorized the Canadian mission in Afghanistan for the full spectrum of military operations - bar none. The present Conservative government decided to continue the mission, and the House of Commons voted to extend it until February 2009.

Developmental commitments

Largely ignored by much of the media are Canada's most recent developmental commitments to Afghanistan: $10 million towards the salaries of Afghan police officers, $1.75 million for women's health and literacy and $11.5 million for reconstruction.

Another criticism claims that we're fighting U.S. President George W. Bush's war. Those who believe this are people of principle - the principle that they automatically oppose Canada doing anything in concert with the United States.

This knee-jerk reaction against everything American has backed the leftist and feminist camps into a corner of their own making. The draconian, medieval standards that the Taliban forcibly imposed on women and girls relegated them to the status of slaves. Females were forbidden to attend school, work outside the home or even leave their residences without a male escort.

Violators were punished and some were killed. Yet somehow, the left - which made the feminine agenda their own - is strangely silent on this matter. Its fervid anti-Americanism has outweighed its belief in even the most basic rights for women.

NDP Leader Jack Layton - nicknamed "Taliban Jack" by our troops in Afghanistan - and others would have us go to Darfur, in the Sudan, where apparently the rights of women are somehow more important than those of their sisters in Afghanistan - and where the United States is not heavily involved.

What about the cry that we should return to our proud tradition of peacekeeping? Canadians love our peacekeeping role - no conflict, no combat, no blood, no bodies. Peacekeeping was even listed in a poll as one of the top 10 things that make us what we are - and differentiates us from Americans.

But, as I pointed out in this column recently, peacekeeping is a myth perpetuated by fuzzy-thinking idealists who have little, if any, understanding of Canada's military past.

Even at its height, traditional peacekeeping was never central to our military commitments.

Besides, what we are doing in Afghanistan - like it or not - is the gritty new reality of peacekeeping in the 21st century. For those unaware of recent history, it's been that way since the early 1990s, with the various missions in the Balkans.

Then there are those who contend Afghanistan is not our problem. It would certainly be possible to build such a case.
But that would also mean Canadians were essentially prepared to turn our backs on the rest of the world.

Helping others

By extension, this argument also rejects the idea of helping others less fortunate than us, foreign aid, supporting the UN and fulfilling our commitments to the collective security alliance to which we belong. Sadly, it seems many people are prepared to do just that.

Without military action in Afghanistan, the preconditions for stability and development will never exist. All Canadians want the conflict in Afghanistan to end - none more than the soldiers fighting there.

Yet our troops deployed in Afghanistan strongly believe in what they are doing. They understand the favourable circumstances they must create before the mission can change from a military one to a civilian one - and full reconstruction can follow.

johnboileau@eastlink.ca <mailto:johnboileau@eastlink.ca>

John Boileau supports the good work Canada is trying to accomplish in Afghanistan.
 
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