NATO’s new secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has urged Canada to keep its fighting men and women in Afghanistan beyond its announced exit date.
On a tour of Afghanistan, Mr. Rasmussen was asked on August 6, 2009 for his opinion on Canada’s pull-out: “Of course, I’m not going to interfere with domestic politics in individual allied nations, but seen from an alliance point of view, I would strongly regret if that became the final outcome of the Canadian considerations…it is a question of our own security - we cannot allow Afghanistan once again to become a safe haven for terrorists - and I also think it is in Canada’s interest to ensure a peaceful and stable Afghanistan.”
Afghanistan Attack a Response to 9/11
In September 2001, the terrorist action against the United States was blamed on the al-Qaeda group, whose leader, Osama bin Laden, was being sheltered by Afghanistan. The American response was to launch bombing raids and a ground assault against Afghanistan to remove its extremist Taliban government from power.
Canada supported the American action. In February 2002, it sent a battle group to operate under U.S. command. The Canadians were based in Kandahar in the south to help root out the last remnants of the Taliban.
Enormous U.S. Tactical Error in Afghanistan
During a visit to Afghanistan on May 2003, U.S. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld and Afghan president Hamid Karzai said that major combat operations had ended.
But, by then the United States was fighting another war; this one in Iraq. Thousands of U.S. troops were pulled out of Afghanistan because they were needed in Iraq. But, most analysts believe this was a huge mistake.
Typical is the opinion of Marvin Weinbaum of the Washington-based Middle East Institute. In July 2008, he pointed out that while U.S. troops were leaving and others moving in to take their place, the Taliban had time “to regroup and develop new tactics.”
With many Americans leaving, security was now in the hands of a United Nations body called the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF). As of August 2009, ISAF had a strength of 64,500 troops from 42 countries, operating under the command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Bogged down in Kandahar
Canada has 2,800 personnel in Afghanistan, all of them based in the southern city and province of Kandahar. The area has been the site of the fiercest fighting in the war against Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents. This has been a tough assignment for Canada, which, as reported by The Globe and Mail (August 7, 2009) has “seen 127 Canadian soldiers die and is projected to cost taxpayers more than $11 billion.”
The rising price of the war in blood and treasure is causing the Canadian public to lose its appetite for the conflict. An Angus Reid poll in March 2009 found that nearly half (48 percent) of those polled would bring Canadian troops home before 2011; “only seven percent believe Canadian soldiers should remain in Afghanistan after 2011.”
Politicians can read those numbers as well as anybody and the leaders of all Canada federal political parties favour sticking to the 2011 exit strategy.
Rupert Taylor - Rupert Taylor is the editor of a magazine that provides background to current events.
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