Accurate information is key

The Sunday Times' Christina Lamb recently participated in a Royal Geographical Society debate against the following motion “Our mission in Afghanistan is destined to fail: Nato should withdraw”.

Afghanistan is not Iraq
Speaking for the Motion: Major General Charles Vyvyan, former chief of staff at HQ Land Command, the author Michael Griffin, and Clare Short, the former international development secretary who resigned over the war in Iraq.

Speaking against the Motion: Christina Lamb, Sir Lawrence Freedman, professor of war studies at King’s College London, and Whitney Azoy, director of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies

Pre-debate vote on the motion: 240 for withdrawal, 232 against, 257 undecided

Post-debate vote: 524 against withdrawal, 183 for

Education certainly seems to be the key. The debate highlighted perceived flaws and possible solutions, including increased development funding in outlying areas.

Hopefully tomorrow's announcement will designate the Canadian Military to use the new funds committed to Afghanistan, instead of CIDA. We've spent hundreds of millions to give the soldiers the right tools to complete their mission. It's time to give them access to a large pool of discretionary funds to complete projects on the ground they're standing on. ($25 million per six month deployment should be a good place to start).

Cross posted to BBS