He's been covering fighting over there for years now:
Harper's aides indicate that 1,000 military trainers and support staff will remain in Afghanistan when Canadian troops leave their front line positions in Kandahar in the spring. To avoid unpleasant questions, Harper insists that he needn’t bother discussing his volte-face with Canada’s elected parliamentarians.
With good reason.
No doubt some enterprising MP would ponder aloud why Canadian taxpayers should tip still more treasure into the pockets of the Karzai regime’s shady ministers, not least those of the incompetent drunkard who heads the ANA, Defence Minister Rahim Wardak.
[...]
Far from helping the Afghan people, Stephen Harper’s consolation strategy will further debilitate Afghanistan’s weakest flank: the illegitimate regime that persists in enriching itself behind the walls of Kabul’s Presidential Palace.
You can tell which parties feel they can win the argument over an extension of our Afghanistan mission: the NDP and Bloc, who are calling for a resolution in the HOC. You can tell which ones don't: the Liberals and the Tories, who are willing to cut deals in the backrooms. Come on, Bob and Steve and Iggy. You want a mission extension; step into the sunlight and sell me one.
I'm going to split a hair here. This is not a criticism but an attempt to get a fact clear.
ReplyDeleteThis is not a mission extension. This is a new mission.
Canada has participated in three different Afghan missions to date. 2001-2002 the invasion of Afghanistan; 2002-2005 UN stability operations Kabul; 2005/6 - 2011 NATO ISAF operations.
This would be a NTM-A mission and requires a whole re-look. At the very least, because there is no urgency in dispatching troops, this should be presented to parliament and the public in open debate.