With defense moron Gordon O'Connor running about spewing the "stay the course" meme (remember how well that worked for Bush?), Afghanis are asking the UN to make peace with the Taliban.
I'm not sure how feasible that is, but I find it interesting that Afghanistan's people are starting to say (in effect) "help us rebuild, but get out of our politics".
The problem that negotiating with the Taliban presents is not the obvious loss of face for the chest thumping gorillas, but it's a little hard to negotiate with a group that has no identifiable leadership. I'm not even sure that there is an identifiable entity called "The Taliban (tm)" in Afghanistan - it strikes me more as a banner under which the various pockets of resistance operate.
However, the original intent of Canada's mission in Afghanistan was to rebuild the place, not take sides in what amounts to a civil war. I suspect that in reality a certain recognition of the Taliban and other "resistance/insurgent" groups might have a better calming effect in Afghanistan than our Leopard tanks and recycled Vietnam-era troop carriers.
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There is a lot of misinformation about the Afghan situation. Apart from the military there are a number of Canadian NGO's in the country. In that time a lot of roads and school have been built. Over 400 new schools are now operating. These schools serve male and female students which was not the case under Taliban rule. 40 schools have been burned by the Taliban and 45 teachers killed. the work continues.
Canadian forces provide security for this development work.
After the Second World War to took over 7 years to restore democracy to Germany and Italy. These countries had a democratic tradition and understood the rule of law, free press, independent judiciary etc.
Realistically, it is going to take longer in Afghanistan.
Remember that it was the Liberal Government that got us into Afghanistan. It is a UN mandated mission under NATO control. This is significantly different from Iraq.
For those who advocate withdrawl....please tell me what to say to the little girls who are now going to school as the soldiers leave....
For those who advocate withdrawl....please tell me what to say to the little girls who are now going to school as the soldiers leave....
I wasn't talking about withdrawal.
I believe, if you read what I said, I was calling for a more politically constructive approach to the situation.
The muscle-bound approach being pushed by O'Connor is guaranteed to fail. Like it or not, the Taliban and other groups within Afghanistan are part of the political landscape, and aren't likely to "go away" just because O'Connor or some other foreign official says that they won't deal with them.
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