The deaths of 140 Afghan civilians in two suicide bombings this week cry out to Canadians.
Each victim was an innocent; each victim left behind grieving families; and each victim has a message for Canadians that we must heed: we must not abandon Afghanistan.
The Taliban and their co-criminals kill and maim in the belief that, if they keep it up long enough, NATO countries will tire and leave; local Afghan residents will become so terrified they will surrender; and the ousted fear-based bloody Taliban government of the past will rule once more.
If Canada and NATO abandon Afghanistan, that is exactly what will happen. The wholesale executions of opponents in public stadiums will resume; the relegation of women to the role of uneducated housebound slaves will return; the death sentences for homosexuals will be reinstated; all expressions of dissent and contrary belief will be obliterated and the people of Afghanistan who are allowed to survive will be forced into a life of subjugation, fear and both physical and intellectual slavery.
Why should we care? First, because we are Canadians: a proud free people who have paid the price many times before to protect our freedoms by protecting and restoring that of others. And we know from history that fighting fascism and totalitarianism overseas is necessary … painful and costly though it may be … so that we don’t have to fight the tyrants on our own land.
And that’s exactly what would be required if we abandon Afghanistan. The Taliban ..freshly emboldened by victory ..would no doubt allow, even encourage, the re-establishment of terrorist-training camps aimed at taking “jihad’ to their non-Islamic enemy: us! That’s what they did before (ask the 911 victims’ families); that’s what they would do again .. and Canada would be a clear target.
The debate over Canada’s future in Afghanistan emboldens the Taliban. They know there are many naive Canadians who lack the stomach to fight (we had them in 1939-45 too.).
If we truly want peace … we must continue to fight. Surrender will only make things worse… much worse.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Brian Weiner // Mar 18, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Well said Harvey and I agree.
An interesting add-on to this, I had lunch last week with a friend who had spent 5 years in the Canadian military (and remains connected today), and he insisted that there is a waiting list of Canadian troops lining up to go to Afghanistan. Contrary to what some would say, they WANT to go, to do the right thing, to be in the centre of the action, to help. O Canada!
2 Pinky // Feb 28, 2012 at 6:45 pm
The foinowllg three sentence comprise the first set of questions posed by the Foreign Policy interviewer to Hillary: 1. In late May, then-top commander General Stanley McChrystal said there is clear evidence of Iranian activity in training and providing weaponry to the Taliban in Afghanistan. What are Iran’s core interests in Afghanistan, and how have they evolved in the last nine years? How do those complement or work against what the U.S. and NATO are trying to achieve there? Note that the interviewer’s two question sentences don’t require, or even invite, Hillary to comment on the interviewer’s assumption stated in the first sentence that the US has clear evidence that Iran is involved in training and supplying weapons to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Hillary declined to address this first-sentence assumption, presumably for one or more of the foinowllg reasons: (1) she had not been asked to do so; (2) the assumption was irrelevant to the two questions she was asked; and (3) it would have been impossible in any event to prove the negative of that stated assumption, and thus both pointless and risky to try.But why, one wonders, did this interviewer consider it appropriate to slip in this assumption before posing the two questions to Hillary? It seems plain to me that the interviewer intended that assumption to color the two questions actually posed to Hillary, which questions can thus be rephrased as follows:1. What are Iran’s core interests in Afghanistan, and how have they evolved in the last nine years SUCH THAT IRAN IS NOW TRAINING AND ARMING THE TALIBAN IN ORDER TO ACCOMPLISH ITS OBJECTIVES IN AFGHANISTAN?2. How do IRAN’S INTERESTS IN AFGHANISTAN, AND ITS TRAINING AND ARMING OF THE TALIBAN IN AN EFFORT TO ACCOMPLISH ITS OBJECTIVES, complement or work against what the U.S. and NATO are trying to achieve there?
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