What We Have Lost

Wednesday, 22 July 2009 00:00

Canadian military image Canadian soldiers have been in Afghanistan for seven years now. Does anyone know the real reason we are in Afghanistan. Someone I know who is in the Canadian Military has said to me that the reasons initially given to the Canadian public to justify military intervention like fighting to allow Afghani girls to get an education was just a ruse. Initially the Liberals just wanted to appear that we supported our American allies and our forces just wanted to get away from only being known as peacekeepers.

Now after seven years, 112 dead and upwards of 18 billion of dollars spent to finance our adventures, does anyone know what we have accomplished? After years of calling anyone who called for our removal of troops, cowards and saying Canada would never “cut and run” , Stephen Harper now says that a military victory over Taliban forces is unlikely and the only solution to the war would be not with bullets but with diplomats.
Canada is supposed to remove our troops from battle in 2011 but that was before Harper’s role reversal. Since we know we are not going to win militarily, why not bring our diplomats in and remove our troops from the theatre of battle now before any more of our brave soldiers die for nothing.

We once talked of using our troops to build the infrastructure of Afghanistan and winning the hearts of the Afghani people. At this time we have probably destroyed more than we have built but it is not too late. We need a debate in Parliament now about the use of our troops in Afghanistan. If we cannot win a military battle lets move our troops to areas of Afghanistan where we can help build this country instead of destroying it. The Taliban was able to gain control of Afghanistan when the pull out of Soviet troops after their defeat caused a power vacuum in the country. We shouldn’t continue battling but neither should we withdraw all Allied troops either. We can still have a role and a presence in Afghanistan just not an all aggressive role. There are many NGO’s operating in Northern Afghanistan, our troops could lend support there and truly help rebuild this country.

Mr. Harper you have the power to save lives, not only of Afghanis but our own sons and daughters. You once spoke of needing courage to fight; can you find the real courage to save lives?

For more information call Hon. Sinclair Stevens at 1-888-666-3821 or e-Mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Last Updated on Monday, 25 January 2010 13:37