Can the Afghan mission be saved?

[Senena]

John Ibbitson wrote:

"The return home of the bodies of four soldiers and a journalist from Afghanistan on Sunday offered a poignant, painful reminder of a question that will dominate the coming year: Is the Kandahar commitment turning into a failure, or can it still be rescued?"

[Ryan344]

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has made a wise decision when he says "virtually all Canadian soldiers will leave Afghanistan by the end of 2011."

Parliament has already decided that the combat mission involving about 2,500 troops in southern Afghanistan centred around Kandahar will end in 2011.

More: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/troops+after+2011+says/2413772/story.html


What's the solution, this is the best solution, I think. Leave there, let people there to make their own choices. No body is the almighty God.

[Petrov]

Do you know? Canada has been in Afghanistan since the beginning of the conflict, contributing thousands of troops and billions in aid.

More than 2,800 Canadian troops are currently in Afghanistan, according to NATO. Most of them are based in the Kandahar province in the southern part of the country, home to some of the worst violence and instability.

At least 138 Canadian troops have been killed in Afghanistan, .

Afghanistan is also the largest recipient of development aid from Canada. According to the government, Canada will have authorized $1.2 billion in aid to Afghanistan from 2002 through 2011.

[Photo]

People here placed hopes on the Afghanistan government, but the current government is a fragile structure headed by President Hamid Karzai.

Put in power by the U.S. and guarded by American security forces, he presides over what has been described as “a failed , narco-mafia state” where foreign aid and drug revenues are the two main sources of income. Viewed by one of its own ministers as one of the five most corrupt governments in the world.

It was reported that most of the massive infusions of development assistance from around the world find their way into private bank accounts and the pockets of corrupt officials. It is estimated that less than half of development-assistance money budgeted for roads, schools, hospitals, electricity and other structural needs actually reaches the projects it was ear-marked for and only a quarter of those funds actually get to end users in the rural areas where most Afghans live.

Can we rely on this government to defeat Taliban to establish a democratic country there? I doubt. Since that's the goal we can never really to reach, why should we still make the so-called contributions there. Coming back is the best way to save our soldiers' lives.

[Training]

But the issue is: how to leave ?

[Gossip]

How ? The projected plan is to strengthen Hamid Karzai`s power, then use the Afghan security force to replace NATO allies. President Obama has already been performing this plan after announcing to send more than 30,000 U.S. troops as part of a counterinsurgency strategy to wipe out al Qaeda elements and stabilize the country, while training Afghan forces.

[Rum7]

An Afghan colleague told me as long as the NATO troops withdraw, the Hamid Karzai government will collapse and the officials there will fly abroad with their money.

[Noelle]

The results of the BBC poll of the Afghan people shows an increase of support for the U.S.-NATO force presence in Afghanistan to at least 70%, and support for the current Afghan government. This is very encouraging.

[Petrov]

Oh, that's good, could you provide details about the poll by BBC, showing the site address please.

[Senena]

This is what I got from UNoDC.

Corruption widespread in Afghanistan, UNODC survey says:
19 January 2010 - Poverty and violence are usually portrayed as the biggest challenges confronting Afghanistan. But ask the Afghans themselves, and you get a different answer: corruption is their biggest worry. A new UNODC survey reveals that an overwhelming 59 per cent of Afghans view public dishonesty as a bigger concern than insecurity (54 per cent) and unemployment (52 per cent).
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontp...rvey-says.html

[ottawanewbus]

NATO airstrike kills 27 civilians in Afghanistan

MARJAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A NATO airstrike in Afghanistan mistakenly killed 27 civilians, the government said on Monday, hurting a campaign to win over the local population and defeat Taliban insurgents.

The Afghan cabinet condemned the deaths as "unjustifiable" after an aircraft fired on civilians, mistaking them for insurgents, in the south near the border of Uruzgan and Dai Kondi provinces. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/1...us_afghanistan