Canada's moral obligation to Afghans

Matthew Fisher makes explicit in this National Post article thoughts that underlay this post of mine:

What Mr. Coderre -- and to an extent Mr. Bernier --failed to provide in Kandahar was a realistic appraisal of the current security situation, which is not particularly good, and how it would get much worse if Canada were to retreat. Also missing was an appreciation of how Canada's combat role in southern Afghanistan, which was championed by Paul Martin's Liberal government and then mightily embraced by Stephen Harper's Tories, has created an expectation among Afghans that Canada was actually serious about helping this country.

Those who would demand a change in the Canadian mission are ignoring a broad international consensus that little social or economic development can take place here unless there is security and that establishing such security requires years of commitment, not months.

It is also laughable that some Canadian politicians think that after only 19 months of combat their country has already earned a dividend from NATO for fighting the Taliban in Kandahar's Panjwaii and Zhari districts and that somehow Canada now has the right to condemn countries such as Germany that have refused to fight in Afghanistan.

Canadian troops have done very well here, but their courage and their successes do not make up for the fact that for decades Canada neglected its military so badly that it became the laughing stock of NATO. And several generations of Canadian politicians were quite happy to have it that way.

It is only because of what Canada has been doing in Kandahar that it has begun to re-establish its position as a respected member of NATO. Canada's top general, Rick Hillier, has commanded the International Security Assistance Force here. Maj.-Gen. Marc Lessard of the Van Doos is to assume command for all combat operations in southern Afghanistan from next February.

The antics of Messrs. Coderre and Bernier over the Thanksgiving weekend were a lively pre-election sideshow. The crux of the matter is whether Canada can, in good conscience, so quickly abandon the 90% of Afghans who believe in what they are doing, throwing into question whether the 71 Canadians who have died here did so for any good reason.

More on NATO:

Afghanistan 'putting Nato's future in peril'

And on reality around Kandahar, especially our Provincial Reconstruction Team's work. Good on the Owen Sound Sun Times.