Leaving Afghanistan
It's no surprise that Jack Layton and the NDP want Canadian troops out of Afghanistan -- the NDP doesn't go to war. But, aside from the complication that our troops are committed as part of NATO's deployment in Afghanistan, is pulling out the right thing to do? I'm of two minds over the whole thing. Removing the Taliban from Afghanistan was the right thing to do. Here was a country that was aiding and projecting an aggressive force at the west. Don't kid yourself and thing it would have only been the US that would have been the target. Removing the Taliban, destroying al Qaeda and finishing the mission in Afghanistan is the right thing to do.
Of course, the US went and squandered the world's goodwill -- including that from Muslin states after 9/11 -- by invading Iraq for no good reason. Despite Iraq however, the Afghanistan mission has to be completed and a democratic nation needs to emerge from the ashes of the Taliban fundamentalist state. I've no illusions of what will happen in Iraq. The US will fail there because even the people want them out. But the Afghanistan mission cannot fail. We need to demonstrate that we can bring democracy and a better life to Afghanistan. We need to demonstrate that there is an alternative to fundamentalism -- and I believe that the US can't do this, but countries like Canada, can.
Canada hasn't moved to the other fundamentalist extreme of Islamic fundamentalism -- but more and more, the US is projecting this shift. Canada is in a unique position of bridging the gap between the extremes, but we need to have the capability and the will to do so. Yes, we're losing lives in Afghanistan and will lose more -- and every single loss is too high a price to pay -- but the potential value that each personal loss brings ... too high a price, but for the things that really matter, the costs are always high. If we stop now, we may not get another opportunity for a long time -- and we would continue to lose trust, integrity and respectability around the world.
Of course, the US went and squandered the world's goodwill -- including that from Muslin states after 9/11 -- by invading Iraq for no good reason. Despite Iraq however, the Afghanistan mission has to be completed and a democratic nation needs to emerge from the ashes of the Taliban fundamentalist state. I've no illusions of what will happen in Iraq. The US will fail there because even the people want them out. But the Afghanistan mission cannot fail. We need to demonstrate that we can bring democracy and a better life to Afghanistan. We need to demonstrate that there is an alternative to fundamentalism -- and I believe that the US can't do this, but countries like Canada, can.
Canada hasn't moved to the other fundamentalist extreme of Islamic fundamentalism -- but more and more, the US is projecting this shift. Canada is in a unique position of bridging the gap between the extremes, but we need to have the capability and the will to do so. Yes, we're losing lives in Afghanistan and will lose more -- and every single loss is too high a price to pay -- but the potential value that each personal loss brings ... too high a price, but for the things that really matter, the costs are always high. If we stop now, we may not get another opportunity for a long time -- and we would continue to lose trust, integrity and respectability around the world.
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