Aid & Combat Interconnected in Afghanistan
| 10/10/2007 | Posted by Patti under Afghanistan |
In Afghanistan’s volatile south, where Canadian troops operate, aid and reconstruction can’t take place without the area being secured by troops who need to flush out and engage the Taliban. Ongoing security has to be provided before any aid groups can operate in these areas. The Taliban will infiltrate back to an area thought to be cleared and undertake a campaign of threats and harassment of aid workers, especially Afghani’s.
The commander of the Canadian task force, Brig-Gen Guy Laroche correctly points out that pulling troops out of the areas like the south will not lead to development and reconstruction, in fact it will end those activities. Please don’t try to feed me the line that it is time for another country to take a turn, to step up to the plate. Isn’t going to happen.
If Canada pulls out in 2009, the areas we are currently operating in will be effectively abandoned. Where will the Liberals and their claims to belief in social justice be then? Dion needs to rethink his party’s stand and rethink it hard. I suspect I’m not the only Canadian who sees the hypocrisy in the current Liberal stance on Afghanistan.
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