Sen. Colin Kenny throws in the Afghan towel/Pelosi pooping

Robert Fowler-heavy, I'd say. This piece by the Chair of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence will likely go quite a way to further undermining remaining support for the mission amongst our great and good (policitians and pundits). Sen. Kenny, a Liberal, is the best-informed parliamentarian on military and security issues. He has been a strong and intelligent critic of inadequate government (both Liberal and Conservative) attention and funding in both areas. If he now favours pulling the plug the Canadian herd may really start thundering for the exits:

Mission impossible
War cannot be won in Afghanistan. It is time to talk about retreat
...
In Canada, there is a strange hush in the land. Many Canadians identify strongly with families who have lost loved ones in the cause, and one senses that most of them don't want to confront the fact that these lives may have been wasted.

Perhaps that is why Prime Minister Stephen Harper avoids the subject of Afghanistan like Superman avoids kryptonite -- he wants the quiet to continue [see this story, "NATO secretary general cancels trip to Ottawa"]. While President Obama argues publicly for his "necessary war," and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown makes speeches defending Britain's presence in Afghanistan [see "Brits" here], Harper avoids talking to Canadians about what he is hoping to accomplish there and what would constitute success.

I believe that continued Canadian engagement in Afghanistan should be minimized, much of the aid money earmarked for Afghanistan should instead be spent in countries where we are wanted and where the effectiveness of aid projects can be monitored, and until the 2011 deadline that Parliament has mandated for pulling our military out of Afghanistan, our troops should be used for training Afghans, not chasing the Taliban.

I say that because what we hoped to accomplish in Afghanistan has proved to be impossible. We are hurtling toward a Vietnam ending.

Our troops have performed magnificently under conditions much more odious than any of us would have predicted. They persevered as a tiny band against huge odds, and the lack of success of far greater numbers of U.S. troops demonstrates what an impossible mission they were faced with.

But we are not achieving anything close to our objectives in Afghanistan, and there is no sign that we will. Why would we continue to risk lives under the pretense that there is good news around the corner?

If Prime Minister Harper has good news, he should share it. Otherwise, he should do the right thing, and start moving toward a word that no soldier likes to hear, but that is sometimes the only intelligent thing to do. That word is retreat.

(Update: Earlier, from Paul at Celestial Junk:

Calling Mr. Harper: Where are You?

And now a comment by E.R. Campbell at Milnet.ca:

If you want proof that “we” have given up then try this, by Sen. Colin Kenny...

Sen. Kenny was, if not a “cheerleader,” at least not anti-Afghanistan, but he has given up and, I’m guessing most parliamentarians, including most Conservatives, share his views.)

While in the US President Obama isn't getting much help from his supposed friends:

Doubt raised on troop boost in Afghanistan war
President Barack Obama's strategy may be at risk as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she doesn't sees many backers in Congress for any new deployments.

(Update: No help from this leading Democrat either:

Senate Armed Services Chairman: No More U.S. Troops to Afghanistan)

But our mission does receive backing from a rather unexpected source:

Cockburn says troops should stay beyond 2011
Visiting singer-songwriter entertains Canadian soldiers -- including his brother

When Bruce Cockburn arrived here [KAF] Tuesday with a team of musicians and athletes to entertain the troops, he brought birthday gifts for his younger brother, Capt. John Cockburn, a doctor at the NATO hospital on the base...

Bruce Cockburn finally got his rocket launcher [video here] during a visit to the troops in Afghanistan but he had to give it back.
Photograph by: Finbarr O'Reilly, Reuters, Canwest News Service

But Cockburn's stance on the war and his admiration for Canada's troops might be surprising to some of his fans.

" I'm full of admiration for these kids," he said in an interview. "The older I get, the more I see these young faces doing what they are doing and the chances they are taking -- they feel like my own kids, and I love them and am happy to be here to show them my support. I've never been with the Canadian troops. It's a good feeling.

Cockburn, 64, does not think the Canadians should pull out of Afghanistan, as the government has said they would do in 2011.

"It's a long discussion on whether we should be in Afghanistan -- whether anyone should be in Afghanistan. But since we are and we've gone this far, I don't think it's appropriate to leave at this stage. Certainly, I have not had the idea that anyone I have talked to among the soldiers is hiding anything or trying to slant things to a particular view...

Spain, for its part, is playing a bit of a numbers shell game:

Spain's government agreed Friday to send 220 more troops to Afghanistan, raising the total to about 1,000 and moving to help a hard-pressed allied coalition fighting the resurgent Taliban.

The decision now goes to parliament, which is expected to approve it...

Spain has had troops in Afghanistan since 2002. There are now about 1,200 Spanish soldiers in the west of the country, but 450 of them were sent to provide security for last month's presidential election and are due to come home when the results are known.

The government, eager for strong ties with President Barack Obama, had been hinting for months it might send more troops for the long-term. But the idea seemed to take on more urgency last week with a series of attacks on Spanish troops, including an ambush that prompted a five-hour firefight in which Spanish forces killed 13 insurgents while they had no casualties of their own.

[Prime Minister] Fernandez de la Vega said the new troops are tasked in part with providing more security for the ones already there, many of whom are involved in reconstruction efforts...

Update: There is a bright side:

MADRID, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Spanish Defense Minister Carme Chacon said on Wednesday that she hoped the country would be able to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan within five years...