Security and development
Without security, development can't happen. When will the Canadian public and opposition politicians get that through their heads?
Somebody in the mainstream press needs to point this story out, not in the context of "we're failing in Afghanistan," but rather in terms of "this is what you allow when you stop doing the unfairly-villified 'counterinsurgency' work."
A tip of the toque to my RC correspondent for the pointer.
After a series of attacks on mobile phone towers, it appears life in Afghanistan has gotten even harder: the four privately-owned Afghan cell companies have all cowed to the Taliban's demands and begun shutting off their networks between 5PM and 7AM every night. The Taliban claims that the companies are aiding Afghan and NATO troops by leaving the networks operational, and has attacked 10 towers in the past few weeks, completely destroying six. We're not sure how big an impact the shutoff has on troops, but there's no denying the effect on Afghan citizens, many of whom rely on mobile phones to contact loved ones and summon medical services. The Afghan government has said it's encouraging the phone companies to resist the Taliban tactics, and that it will "persuade the companies to turn the signals back on again," but it's not clear when that might happen.
Somebody in the mainstream press needs to point this story out, not in the context of "we're failing in Afghanistan," but rather in terms of "this is what you allow when you stop doing the unfairly-villified 'counterinsurgency' work."
A tip of the toque to my RC correspondent for the pointer.
posted by Babbling Brooks at 10:35 a.m.
1 Comments:
These attacks are proof of the Taliban's real strategy and their complete disregard for the majority of the Afghan people. The real goal of the Taliban is not to attack coalition forces directly or indirectly, but rather to make life for the average Afghan under the Karzai government as uncomfortable as possible. To deny them food, medical aid, a voice in government and alas cell phone communications is to seek to deny people of their most basic needs.
To all those who yelled "end it, don't extend it!" from the public gallery, I would ask you to consider what fate you are resigning the average Afghan to with that fervent yet misguided wish.
Telephones facilitate a basic human need and inalienable right: the right to communication and self-expression, something the Taliban have never had much respect for.
Whether you shout your opinion from the public gallery in a house of Parliament, or use a phone to call your Member of Parliament you are engaging in an act that the Taliban have no regard for.
Extending the mission was the right decision in general, but fixing arbitrary dates for departure is still a mistake.
The proof to support this assertion is all around us, but about 50% of the Canadian public have become like someone who cannot see the forest through the trees. Or in this case, the real nature of the Taliban through the falling cell phone towers.
It used to be that the members of the left who protested for peace were idealists standing upon a moral foundation beyond reproach, but Afghanistan is not a Vietnam or a war for oil. It is a just effort to hold real, genuine and demonstrated evil at bay while affording improved quality of life to those in need.
This truth is self-evident to any person of sny political stripe who has ever been to Afghanistan. Unfortunately, visiting the country is beyond the reach of most Canadians.
So the moral high ground is now occupied by simple soldiers and some aid-workers and diplomats, many of them employees of big government who seem to understand what Martin Luther King was talking about when he wrote from the Birmingham jail "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere".
I am also reminded of another quote that adorned the walls of my grade 12 history classroom:
"No one ever made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he thought he could only do a little." A Google search seems to give most credit for that old saw to Edmund Burke.
It seems more than a little ironic to me that the soldiers who patrol stoically amongst the IED strewn roads and trails of the Panjwayi district are more in line with the spirit of these impossible to criticize pearls of social reform than the peace protesters who shout simple, yet completely erroneous rhymes from the public gallery.
Of course, the mission like the country it seeks to help, is imperfect and fraught with all kinds of room for improvement. But never, not even for an instant, would it be right for us to abandon the people of Afghanistan before they can defend themselves from the tyranny of the Taliban.
I strongly encourage those members of the left, who are beginning to realize the irony of using the fundamental democratic right of peaceful protest to deliver innocents back into the hands of tyrants, to read the thoughts of Terry Glavin. Mr. Glavin is firmly rooted on the left of centre side of the political and social spectrum, yet like those of us who have risked our lives in Kandahar province, he fully grasps the reality of what is going on there:
http://transmontanus.blogspot.com/2008/03/forget-silly-anti-war-parades-put.html
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