Afghanistan Is Why Harper Cannot Be Allowed A Majority.

Where our traditional role as peacekeepers and aid workers has been roundly denigrated it now turns these are still very worthwhile undertakings. Afghanistan has never been Canada’s war; it has always been America’s. In the Aftermath of 9/11 the US attacked Afghanistan, subdued the Taliban but then diverted its forces to attack Iraq allowing the Taliban to become resurgent. Mired down in Iraq the US was faced with again subduing the Taliban. From the outset the US has suffered from troop shortages in both these wars. In attacking Iraq senior US generals warned the invasion was seriously undermanned. These warnings were not heeded and we see Iraq for what it is today- a quagmire steeped in anarchy and violence with no resolution in sight. Stalemated in both these conflicts the US turned to NATO to solve its acute shortage of ground troops, such that NATO openly becomes an instrument of US foreign policy. As a NATO member, Canada, under the Harper conservatives was all too willing to comply. Even though our military was not structured for this type of warfare there was a heedless rush to war. Furthermore, there wasn’t a moment’s consideration given to the ominous fact that the US for all its military might was stalemated in both these conflicts. Canada’s lack of preparedness is apparent in the disproportionate number of casualties taken so far. There has been a mad scramble to acquire the appropriate military hardware much of which will not be available before 2/2009. Other NATO countries wisely restricted their contingents to non-combatant roles recognizing that even with its involvement this promised to be a long and possibly futile conflict, the undertaking was undermanned, and the emphasis on a heavy-handed military solution remains a highly contentious strategy. Even now the US–NATO coalition in Afghanistan numbers a mere 40,000 troops- many of these non-combatants. The USSR fought in Afghanistan for a decade, deployed 100,000 troops and massive armaments, took 15,000 casualties and eventually retreated in defeat to its own borders on the very doorstep of Afghanistan- yet we are trying to win from half way around the world with a fraction of the troops. This is where audacity becomes utter foolishness. It would seem our leadership-political and military- suffers bad judgment as well as a searing ignorance of historical precedents. Afghanistan has a distinguished history of thwarting foreign occupiers. It must be a cause for concern among Western governments that undertakings such as Afghanistan and Iraq appear doomed to failure in spite of massive military deployments. Canada’s newly minted defence minister has just reaffirmed we will be withdrawing as combatants as of February 2009. Here again we see questionable judgment suggesting war can be fought on the installment plan. This sends exactly the wrong message to everybody. It says to our troops stay alive until 2/2009 and you get to come home. Any sacrifice you make in the interim becomes stale dated as of then. It undermines the confidence the Afghan people have in our commitment there and it reinforces to the Taliban what they already know-time is on their side. To Canadians it reveals just how tenuous the Harper government is. What was only months ago an iron-clad resolute commitment to the Afghan mission is collapsing like a house of cards. The rush to war has been a serious error in political judgment and all the bravado in the world is not going to disguise this fact. If Canadians are looking for a point of reference for their misgivings about the Harper government Afghanistan is it. The withdrawal from combat should be immediate and this government should be held to account for this egregious error. Robert Billyard ©