New Media

The Afghans want it. Our allies want it, too. The Liberals are asking for it. Most of all, Canadians need it. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, are you finally ready to publicly discuss a role for Canada in Afghanistan after 2011?

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”

How many times do “peace” negotiations need to literally blow up in this statesman’s face before he finally gets it?

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.

“If you don’t marry me I will put a bomb on your body and send you to the police station.”

They do marriage proposals a bit differently in some parts of the world.

H/T to Adrian MacNair

The Red Cross has provided first-aid kits and training to the Taliban in Afghanistan; yes, those same Taliban who blow Canadians up with IEDs at random intervals.

This may come as a shock to reasonable people who think wounded Taliban ought not to be prevented from letting infection and gangrene take their natural course. Still, it is consistent with the Red Cross mandate.

That mandate is to “protect human life and health, to ensure respect for the human being, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering, without any discrimination based on nationality, race, sex, religious beliefs, class or political opinions.”

Is it not time to update this mandate for the realities we face today? Let’s say we assume (and this is a very debatable premise) that the Taliban represent a legitimate fighting force as opposed to a rag-tag collection of terrorists, bandits and assorted psychotics.

Taliban members are all essentially motivated by an ideology with stated objectives that are completely antithetical to human freedom, happiness and even the right to life (for anyone except a fellow jihadi psycho or their beaten-down family members).

Their leaders, if such an organization can be said to have ones that represent the complete organization (another iffy assumption) have certainly never been a signatory to the Geneva Convention.

Yet according to the IRC’s mandate, they would appear not to have a choice in the matter — they seem obligated to keep helping thugs who have no respect for civil rights or human life.

Simple solution: change the Red Cross charter. Organizational constitutions are not written in stone. They can be amended, usually by a majority or unanimous vote of the executive body. It’s long overdue for the Red Cross to change its mandate to one that does not reward nihilistic aggressors.

Canadians need to discuss what our role will be in Afghanistan after 2011. Events taking place across this country over the next week will help communicate what Afghans and Afghan-Canadians would like that participation to look like, how this is consistent with Canada’s objectives and what can be done to achieve success.

The Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee is hosting panels this month in Halifax, Montreal, Winnipeg and Regina. We’ll be updating the information on our events page, but in the meantime, here’s a quick notice for our members and supporters:

CASC Event in Halifax on May 16

A Panel Responding to the Question: What Should Canada Do in Afghanistan Post-2011?

Date and Time
Sunday, May 16, 2010
7-10 pm

Location
Maritime Conservatory
6199 Chebucto Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Panelists

NAJIA HANEEFI is a founder of the Afghan Women’s Political Participation Committee and is the former head of Afghanistan’s largest women’s organization, the Afghan Women’s Education Centre (AWEC). Ms. Haneefi currently resides in Ottawa.

TERRY GLAVIN is an author of several books and a journalist whose writing from Afghanistan has appeared in newspapers and magazines as diverse as Democratiya, the National Post, the online daily The Tyee and Vancouver Review. He is a co-founder of the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee.

LAURYN OATES, a human rights and gender equity activist with CASC and Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WA).

ANDREW BECKETT (Moderator). Resident, General Surgery Dalhousie University and Medical Officer, Canadian Armed Forces.

There is no cost for this event however as seating is limited, we do require advance RSVP via email atlantic@cw4wafghan.ca or message by phone 902-928-1133 (leave your phone number, name and number of seats to be held).

RSVP and media inquiries:
info@afghanistan-canada-solidarity.org

CASC Event in Montreal on May 17

A Panel Responding to the Question: What Should Canada Do in Afghanistan Post-2011?

Date and Time
May 17 from 7-9pm

Location
Atwater Library
1200 avenue Atwater
Westmount, QC

Panelists

ERSHAD AHMADI, Deputy Chief of the Afghanistan Mission to Canada

LAURYN OATES, a human rights and gender equity activist with CASC and Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WA).

TERRY GLAVIN is an author of several books and a journalist whose writing from Afghanistan has appeared in newspapers and magazines as diverse as Democratiya, the National Post, the online daily The Tyee and Vancouver Review. He is a co-founder of the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee.

STEPHEN SAIDEMAN is Canada Research Chair in International Security and Ethnic Conflict

RSVP and media inquiries:
info@afghanistan-canada-solidarity.org

CASC Event in Winnipeg on May 18

Date & Time:
Tuesday, May 18th
Time: 7-9pm

Location:

Global College
515 Portage Ave
Winnipeg, MB

Panelists
ERSHAD AHMADI, Deputy Chief of the Afghanistan Mission to Canada

LAURYN OATES, a human rights and gender equity activist with CASC and Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WA).

ANNE LONGSTON is an independent consultant working in the field of international education. She served in Kabul as the technical advisor to the Afghanistan Minister of Education.

LASHA TCHANTOURIDZE is a research associate in the Centre for Defence and Security Studies and an adjunct professor in the faculty of graduate studies at the University of Manitoba. He specializes in foreign policy, strategic studies, and politics of the former Soviet Union.

TERRY GLAVIN is an author of several books and a journalist whose writing from Afghanistan has appeared in newspapers and magazines as diverse as Democratiya, the National Post, the online daily The Tyee and Vancouver Review. He is a co-founder of the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee.

RSVP and media inquiries:
info@afghanistan-canada-solidarity.org

CASC Event in Regina on May 20

Location
Royal Saskatchewan Museum Theatre
2445 Albert Street

Date and Time
May 20, 7 pm-9 pm

Panelists

HIS EXCELLENCY JAWED LUDIN was appointed Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Canada in May,

2009, after serving as ambassador to the Nordic countries, based in Oslo. Prior to his diplomatic posts, Ambassador Ludin served as chief spokesperson for Afghan President Hamid Karzai between 2003 and

2005 chief of staff to the president from 2005 to 2007.

NAJIA HANEEFI is a founder of the Afghan Women’s Political Participation Committee and is the former head of Afghanistan’s largest women’s organization, the Afghan Women’s Education Centre (AWEC). Ms. Haneefi currently resides in Ottawa.

TERRY GLAVIN is an author of several books and a journalist whose writing from Afghanistan has appeared in newspapers and magazines as diverse as Democratiya, the National Post, the online daily The Tyee and Vancouver Review. He is a co-founder of the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee.

LAURYN OATES, a human rights and gender equity activist with CASC and Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WA).

RSVP and media inquiries:
info@afghanistan-canada-solidarity.org

Refreshments served