One simple answer in a sea of complicated questions

I have the utmost respect for Liberal Senator Colin Kenny. He's one of the few politicians of any stripe on Parliament Hill to have educated himself on defence issues, and he's not afraid to take swings at any party - including his own - that screws the file up.

But amidst all the cogent points made in this article, Senator Kenny dances around with what I believe is an overblown idea: exit strategy.

At the forefront of successfully carrying out this mission lies the pressing question: Where do we go from here? First and foremost, it is up to our new government to take ownership and to lead: to outline an achievable, measurable end state, to define our victory and to get us there. And then, when the timing is right, to get us out.

When it comes to Afghanistan, our exit strategy should be this: we'll leave when the democratically elected government of Afghanistan asks us to, and not before. As long as there's more work to be done in the country by foreign troops, Canadians should be helping to do it.

It seems to me that asking when we'll leave Afghanistan is like asking a paramedic when she's planning to stop performing CPR on a heart-attack victim just clinging to life. Don't be surprised when she snaps at you with annoyance: when the patient no longer needs my help to live - now bugger off and let me do my job.

Those worried about an open-ended commitment should revise their expectations. Cyprus wasn't a finite mission; our involvment in the Balkans over the past dozen years or so wasn't laid out in advance; hell, tell me anybody expected us to be in Germany for forty-some-odd years. Any timeline we choose at this point will be nothing more than a wild-assed guess, and some speculation might well be counterproductive.

I had a drink just last night with a CIMIC officer who's 'been there and done that' in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and his personal assessment of how long victory would take was "until we have functioning adults in the country with no memory of war." He says we're making fantastic progress, but three-quarters done isn't done. You can say this sort of thing in private, but to come out publicly with it is foolish. What do you think the Afghan people would say if our Prime Minister stood up in the House of Commons and declared Canadian troops would be patrolling their country for the next twenty years? What sort of a position would that put President Karzai in? With all due respect, Senator Kenny is bright enough that he should have figured that dilemma out on his own.

Besides, the CF won't be deployed to Afghanistan a moment longer than required. It's not like the Afghans are likely to take advantage of our generosity - from all accounts, these are all very proud peoples. When they don't need our help any longer, we'll be politely thanked and courteously asked to leave.

By all means, the Harper government should lay out for the Canadian public a basic strategy with some general goals. But we won't be done until the Afghans say "Thanks, we'll take it from here."