Dear Stephen:

Canadians are not idiots. You would do well to start thinking in those terms. On CBC radio this morning, I found myself listening to you answering questions about why public support for Canada's involvement in Afghanistan was dwindling away.

You answered that you thought that people were just responding to the deaths of our troops. Wrong. You are so vastly mistaken in this regard it's apalling to consider just how vastly mistaken you are.

Canadians have had a lot of time to consider the context of our commitments in Afghanistan. Even before we deployed troops a few months ago, it was quite clear that the situation in Afghanistan was not amenable to "stabilization and reconstruction". The "elected" government's reach doesn't reach beyond Kabul, and it's fairly obvious that the Taliban and warlords had reasserted their power in the absence of any coherent government.

Afghanistan is not a simple situation. No foreign power that has attempted to control that region has ever been successful in the long run. The turmoil in that nation today is a direct result of post 9/11 actions, and a 'cut-and-run' on the part of the United States when they decided that Iraq was a far more interesting target.

The region is a moral conundrum today. On one side of the coin, Canada's involvement in the early post-9/11 invasion of the country obliges us to be an active part in putting it back together. Yet, in contrast, the country has clearly degenerated into a state of civil war. I'm not at all sure that we can be an effective force to stabilize and help rebuild under the current conditions.

Speaking as a Canadian citizen, I have some serious questions about the validity of our involvement in Afghanistan. Should Canadians be involved in what amounts to a civil war? (especially in a context where we seem to be 'taking sides'?)

Just what are we accomplishing over there? [Here's a little snippet from a former UK soldier] The claim is made that we are "flushing out the Taliban", and yet somehow this rings hollow to me. The "Taliban" are among the people that live in the region, so unless we are emptying the lands and herding people into prison camps of some sort, I doubt that we are doing much more than creating more resistance. (Remember the Soviet experience - for every villager they killed, they made ten more sworn enemies?)

Why was your government in such a big damned rush to extend our commitment in that nation two full years? Just what games were you playing (besides cuddling up with the cactus bush in Washington) ? A mere few months before, your government was claiming that Canada couldn't possibly take on any more commitments, and then you turn around and arbitrarily extend (and expand) our involvement in Afghanistan?

What is it costing our government to have troops in that mess? Are you, like your idol in Washington, going to rack up enormous debt for this nation simply to satisfy your need to go play soldiers in some far off land?

No, Mr. Harper, it's not just about the distaste I have for seeing our soldiers returning in coffins that makes me question my support for our involvement in Afghanistan - it is far more than that, and I think you would do well to start answering some of those questions instead of puffing up your chest and bragging about "how Canada will be a player on the world stage".