Reply #45: The only problem with that... [View All]

[V. Kid]

...is that Afghanistan is ALREADY in a situation of chaos. As was mentioned earlier the militia's control most of the country outside of Kabul. And frankly much of the difference between them, and the Taliban, is insubstantial. It seems as if your rationale for us staying is that it's the moral thing to do, in so far, as we shouldn't let a group (the Taliban) that's rather nasty gain control. But it's not as if the defacto alternative, the average warlord, is any better when it comes to the human rights of the average Afghani citizen, women included. The Karzai government is completely toothless, and they're not particularly great liberal democrats themselves, as they're rather corrupted by fundamentalist extremists too. The Karzai government itself has courted many of these figures, precisely because they need them, to enforce the will of the government. Remember that story about a converted Christian who was going to be put to death? It was government sanctioned. Of course once we heard about that, we put pressure on Karzai to step in and put a stop to it. But nonetheless, these sorts of elements exist in the Afghani government.

Also, while you mention Oil, and Imperialism, and the fact that you don't think that those things are a part of NATO's mission. I'd argue that they do play a part in the mission. The US gov't wants Afghanistan to be a country that's stable enough to build pipelines through, so they can export Oil, and other fossil fuels, from Central Asian countries through to ports in places like Pakistan. In fact various Oil companies were attempting to do business with the Taliban during the late 90's.

Frankly, other than getting the Americans off our backs for not joining in the Iraqi fun, and hoping for a complete change in course, there really isn't much of a moral reason from the standpoint of traditional Canadian peacekeeping values, for us to be there. And I'd say Layton is right to advocate that we change the dynamic and get every player at the table, to try to organize for a more sustainable peace. Like it or not, but the Taliban is a major player in Afghanistan.