“I put my foot on his neck and I shot him in the head with my AK47.”

Afghanistan requires a multifaceted approach. But at least regarding the appropriate manner of negotiating with the Taliban, best practices are pretty straightforward.

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To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.

Right now, it looks like it’s lights out for Canada’s top military blog. It’s a sad day.

H/T to Adrian MacNair.

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Their courage was the stuff of legend, something to inspire Canadians of all generations. But times change.

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The latest:

Liberal foreign affairs critic and Afghanistan committee member Bob Rae says the MPs’ comments were “a little hyped up.” He’s leaving it up to the government to create a plan for post-2011, but says there eventually must be a debate in Parliament.

“I don’t think we can keep on pretending that these discussions don’t need to take place,” Rae said.

The committee heard a number of ideas about the role Canada could play, including training Afghan security forces, Rae said.

Canada’s parliament did not vote to end our involvement in Afghanistan at the end of 2011. They voted to end our battle group’s role in Kandahar. PM Harper, there is no contradiction with the “will of parliament” in discussing a renewed role for Canada in Afghanistan. Let’s remain engaged just as momentum finally seems to be going our way.

More at the Torch: CF in Afstan post-2011? PM still “the biggest stumbling block”

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Once again, Afghan President Hamid Karzai attempts to jump-start peace talks with the Taliban.

And for the umpteenth time, the Taliban tell Karzai and the rest of the world they’re not interested in stopping the violence. And they do it in their usual way: guns blazing, mortars firing, suicide bombers bearing down on unarmed civilians.

When is Karzai going to get it? You don’t negotiate with these people. You hunt the Taliban down and kill every one of them you can find until their last shell-shocked comrades wave the white flag.

Canadians have made huge sacrifices in this country. We have the right to insist the government we’re supporting get on board with a plan for total victory. Completely contrary to what Karzai seems to think, anything less is just going to keep foreign troops in Afghanistan even longer.

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That said, why are these new trainers going to stick to what pretty well everyone agrees was a limited and fairly arbitrary deadline at the end of 2011? From my post on the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee blog:

The deadline MacKay and others refer to is the end of our formal support for the Canadian battlegroup’s presence in Kandahar (not necessarily, as some believe, a predetermined end for ALL military support for Afghanistan). Yet a scaled down mission more focused on training, consultation with NATO and the Afghan government and perhaps protection of our own humanitarian aid and development assistance personnel, ought not be lumped into the same pile. Deadlines are fine, but they ought to be informed by the actual situation on the ground, not determined on a whim.

An Overview of Canada’s Training Effort in Afghanistan

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That’s the view from pretty well everyone in Afghanistan worth quoting about President Hamid Karzai’s clumsy and self-defeating efforts to somehow bring the Taliban into the fold of the government.

“The sacrifices you have made here, and all your taxpayers’ money. What for? You will have to ask that,” Mr. Abdullah said in an interview.

He said Canada would not be trespassing on Afghanistan’s sovereignty if it moves to block a “reconciliation” deal that circumvents Afghanistan’s parliamentary system. More importantly, he said, Canada is burdened by a duty to its own citizens to see that it does not happen.

“You have more than a right to stay firm in that,” Mr. Abdullah said. “Not just for the sake of any Afghan persons or an Afghan movement, but for the sake of the sacrifices you have made here. You are not in the business of betraying your own people. In that sense, it is an obligation.”

The full story by Terry Glavin, reporting from Afghanistan, is at the National Post, ‘STAY FIRM’ AGAINST TALIBAN: ABDULLAH. Read every word.

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With the enemy mostly melting away in the face of superior firepower, with the exception of a rearguard action by some desperate suicide attackers, the next objective will be to hold these gains. Nothing less than the future of Afghanistan is at stake.

It’s long past time for our politicians to acknowledge the critical events happening on the ground in Afghanistan right now and provide real leadership. With victory in sight, there is no reason to be shy about having a discussion that many Canadians — not least, Afghan Canadians, have been wanting for some time.

Armed Forces hail Moshtarak success

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That is the Taliban’s response to the West’s latest idea for getting out of Afghanistan: a trust fund for terrorists.

A second Taliban representative, also reached by phone, said the attack was intended to answer American and Afghan proposals to “reconcile” with and “reintegrate” Taliban fighters into mainstream society. The plan is a central part of the American-backed campaign to turn the tide of the war, and will be showcased later this month at an international conference in London.

“We are ready to fight, and we have the strength to fight, and nobody from the Taliban side is ready to make any kind of deal,” Mr. Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said. “The world community and the international forces are trying to buy the Taliban, and that is why we are showing that we are not for sale.”

Is anyone really all that surprised? The Taliban don’t need money. They just want power. In any case, it kind of takes the decision out of our hands, doesn’t it?

As Terry Glavin points out, this would be an awfully good time for Canada to take a stand; hopefully something more robust than that “if there is even one Canadian soldier reporting for duty in Afghanistan after 2011, he must be assigned to guard an embassy, and he must be odd.”

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