Canadians Face Tough Questions On War Military Action Not Solving Problems

Canadian politicians say our troops are there at the request of Afghanistan's democratically elected government. Up to a point, this is true. Many Afghans fear that the West will lose interest in their country again — as we did in 1989 when the Cold War ended. Afghan President Hamid Karzai routinely says that he's grateful for Canada's presence and that he wants our troops to stay. When he comes to Ottawa later this fall, he will probably say it again. But Karzai is also bluntly critical of the manner in which foreign troops operate. He criticizes the emphasis on counter-insurgency. In particular, he objects to the use of massive air and artillery strikes that kill far too many Afghan civilians. Not surprisingly, many Afghans are also sick of the foreigners. In a just-released study, the Senlis Council concludes that the protracted counter-insurgency campaign, of which Canada is now an integral part, has succeeded only in turning people in southern Afghanistan against both Karzai and the West. One unnamed Afghan civilian, a former interpreter for British forces, put it this way to Senlis interviewers: "When you (westerners) first came here, we were glad to see you. Now, we have lived with you in our country for five years and we see you tell a lot of lies ... The American, the British and the Canadians — they are all the same to us. They lie to us, they lie to each other and they lie to their own people ... "You are a cruel people and we want you to leave this country." http://tinyurl.com/oe2ns

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