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Last week, Stephen Harper and other NATO leaders met to consider a new agenda for the war in Afghanistan. These leaders discussed plans that will mean the difference between success or failure in Afghanistan, and will cost billions of dollars and untold lives.
I would like to know what is Your Agenda for Afghanistan. Please take our 2-minute survey.
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Tell us Your Agenda for Afghanistan. Then leave an additional comment below.
April 26, 2009 at 2:20 pm
The only people who win in war are those who make the bullets. This is nothing more than economic interests of so called Democratic countries vying for the natural resource riches and geopolitical landscape. The sooner citizens realize this the better off we will be in determining how we feel our Great Country of Canada should move forward in this debacle. And lets all remember
The First Thing to go in War is Truth
April 17, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Focussing on the UN and peacekeeping AND on disarmament AND on stopping the trade and transfer of light arms would all be good.
STOPPING the killing of all Afghanis not indiscutably proven to be insurgents would be better.
Helping tha Afghan people with food, housing, medical assistance, education, roads, security services that really keep people safe in their daily activities would be the best Canada could do. It is obvious (but we forget) that money not spent on arms and military personnel will make a tidy sum to spend on HELPING PEOPLE.
April 15, 2009 at 10:49 pm
An immediate withdrawal of troops would leave a vacuum and although it has some desirability I think it would leave problems. However the emhasis should change from military to helping in very basic ways with education and medicine/health, building simple homes, helpigng with infrastructure needs. Look closely at the reality of the poverty and disruption that the country, the people continually face and give human support. Find ways for small projects in which there can be some Afghani engagement to help foster skills etc.Do we do much to show that we are really concerned about the Afghan people which should be our agenda, but, what is our agenda?
April 14, 2009 at 10:04 pm
I do not believe in this war because I do not believe the premise. Helping women? I know that the oil needs to flow from the Caspian see to Pakistan and that the mulitary industrial complex is making the money.
There is not much that we can do other than collectively withhold our taxes.
I for one will divert my “war” taxes to http://www.consciencecanada.ca
April 14, 2009 at 11:31 am
As a woman who supported the removal of the Taliban as a first step to restore full human rights for the women of Afghanistan, I have recently been horrified by the assassination of a prominent female Afghan, as well as the proposed law legalizing forced sexual activity in marriage. Canadian women and men are fighting in Afghanistan for values that are anathema to many of the locals. Do we have the right to ask our young people to continue fighting for something that they can never accomplish?
April 14, 2009 at 10:54 am
Afghanistan has an over 200 year historyof invasions and repelling them. The people are hardened warriors who have survived by being tough, skilled fighters who can defeat any invading group. My great uncle Macnagten led a British army of over 15,000 into Afghanistan in the 1800s His entire army was wiped out by Afghan fighters using low tech weapons. Its absolultly useless to try to conqure these xenophobic people who have survived foreign invasion. Its their country – why mess with it ?
April 14, 2009 at 10:28 am
The recent comments by Harper that the Taliban cannot be militarily defeated is welcome news. I think it reflects a truth a lot of people know about religious extremism and tribal based cultures: war just feeds the violence and power struggles. I’m also hoping that the change in the political mindset on what constitutes “winning” in Afghanistan will mean changes in the overall objectives – Afghans want security and the chance to make a living above all it would seem. The Taliban are a nightmare, but they thrive where people are desperate and where they think there’s no alternative. There is an alternative to extremism – a civil society where the incitement to violence is dealt with by an uncorrupt justice system.
April 14, 2009 at 12:39 am
Suggest in the long term:
1. Provide generous financing to gather top Moslem and Christiam clerics to clarify the religious base for treatment of each other. (Reference: A Deadly Misunderstanding by Mark D. Siljander).
2. Establish dialogue between both (or is it all) sides to clarify minds about the long term futility of violence in all its forms.
3. Seek ways to enable all to recognize the humanity in others. All of the big religions recognize various versions of the “Golden Rule”.
(Google it and see).
In the short term proriy should be given to sparing the lives of civilians and improving their lot even though they may seem to be helping the “enemy”. The importance of winning over the civilian population is paramount for long term stability. There seems to be no alternative to operating from a position of power in the light of the vast diffference between the stands of the opposing sides.
April 14, 2009 at 12:30 am
I wanted to check all the responses in the third question of the survey. War only works for the military industrial complex. People and the environment are the losers.
All of us, as “civil society” need to get together; support and direct what we want the UN to do in our name, so that all societies can work to develop their sovereignty within the family of nations, as we address all our “problems” with the opportunities to make the changes, so crucially required.
Otherwise the military industrial complex wins and eventually destroys
nations, societies and all that sustains human life.
April 13, 2009 at 10:43 pm
The Taliban are going to continue to be a real challenge, Women are being further harassed and fear for their lives if they speak out in any way. Women and children are my main priority to support. The Taliban will not respect any interference and meet it with more violence. They will take over once again when our soldiers pull out. Keeping the fight going is getting no where except in lost lives.
How do we get the Afganistan people to take charge when they are pushed down at every turn with the Taliban threat. There has to be some answers and somewhere to begin rebuilding this country. How do we work with the Taliban for change? Is this possible? Should the poppy trade be legalized for medical purposes and the Talban receive monetary compensation. How do we infiltrate the Tailban for positve change?
Start somewhere with a new strategy or the Afganistan people will suffer further. Help the people, build more schools, be there in some capacity to help re- build the country that was destroyed by the Taliban and the recent war.
April 13, 2009 at 9:03 pm
War is an appalling last resort. We got into this in solidarity with the United States’ after the 9/11 suicide flight attacks. These we have been led to understand were orchestrated by a wealthy former Saudi business partner of the United States’ Commander in Chief of the day. We have since learned that this shadowy figure was in a US hospital for treatment a few months’ before the 9/11 attack.
How is it that the combined NATO governmental resources cannot find that former business partner who apparently owes his life to American military hospital personnel? Non-availability of a believable official answer to this question leaves the ordinary intelligent citizen to imagine either massive incompetence at ordinary official levels or a deliberate program of massive disinformation arranged by holders of high official office, and probably both.
Quarrels, fights, battles, and wars are all caused by breakdowns of communication. Furthermore, bungled communication is born of fear and automatic resort to harsh or inaccurate language. That is why research into communication, education in it, and PRACTICE in principles of productively peaceful communication, such as the principle of empathic authenticity embodied in Rational Emoto-Linguistics, is so critical for the taxes and surplus of society to support. I therefore request that Ceasefire editors take steps to explore the principle of empathic authenticity and the economics of its application in stressful circumstances — by reviewing the following URL:
http://www.authentixcoaches.com/IHXENPayOff.com
The economics of the application briefly narrated there are spectacularly good. They tell us at Authentix Coaches that in inventing, testing, and proving our Rational Emoto-Linguistics – a set of language articulation and interpretation approaches deliberately avoiding of presumption that we are calling Eye-Zen English — we have begun to make a new and promising improvement on the hard and courageous work begun by Gandhi and now continued in various centres for non-violent communication around the world.
Angus Cunningham
President, Authentix Coaches
http://www.authentixcoaches.com/aboutus.html
April 13, 2009 at 8:47 pm
I hope that we can return to our roll as peacekeepers. I would like for Canada to support the UN and peace keeping. However I do have concerns as to how the UN is being run and how decisions are being made.
April 13, 2009 at 8:36 pm
The situation in Afghanistan is complex and a twenty-first century one but the Armed Forces fighting there are using the same tactics that have been used in war for centuries. They are not fighting AGAINST Afghanistan, nor really FOR the people of Afghanistan and it is not really a traditional Civil War. It is not clear whether Canada is sending troops there to support one side against many opposing forces, is there to show some sort of solidarity with American forces and other NATO countries, is there to oppose the marcotic trade, to supposedly be heading off fears that terrorist attacks against our country may be brewing there, or is there to foster humanitarian causes, or perhaps for some obscure economic reason. While we may be deeply offended and incensed, as we ought to be, at the treatment of women and non-believers we must realize that these traditions are deeply engrained and are not likely to be changed over night by force. It is deeply offensive to me that my tax dollars are being invested in killing others regardless of their beliefs and many who are kliied are neutral non-combattants. I suspect that there are many Taliban who are relatively moderate and we should be talking to them and persuading them that we are not there to take over their country (which I trust is true)but are interested in providing humanitarian aid (which I hope is true)but at the same time are concerned about the way they are treating their women. Lastly it is in vigue to say that one supports our troops which I do to some extent but not whether they are right or wrong any more than I adhere to the jingoistic doctrine of “my country right or wrong”.
April 13, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Canada’s aid carrying a gun, its search and destroy missions, have cost it all credibility. We have not been a force for peace and few Afghanis apparently see us as such. Let’s advocate and support an international mission to help Afghanistan recover from our intervention. Let’s do the honorable thing and get our guns, our soldiers out of where they simply do not belong.
April 13, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Our trouble stems from the dominance of economics over all other social and environmental considerations. The only way to renew healthy society and build peace and prosperity all over our world is for all governments to value and enforce equal human rights for all people everywhere. So clearly we have our work cut out for ourselves. Earth itself finally calls the shots. We can either wake up and learn how to get along or perish. Read “Toward Social Renewal” by Rudolf Steiner. Google it!
April 13, 2009 at 6:53 pm
The best course for Canada in Afghanistan is to make major investments in peacekeeping, development and support of civil society. These are our strengths and our strengths exactly match the Afghan needs. The West has agreed that no military solution to Afghanistan’s problems exist. Therefore Canada can play a leading role in contributing to the non-military solutions.
April 13, 2009 at 6:46 pm
i totally agree with G. Janssen. Whenever we decide to leave Afghanistan and I believe the sooner the better, the Taliban will return. We must let the people of Afghanistan determine their own future and not put the lives of young Canadian men and women at risk. Each time the body of one of our troops is returned to Canada I feel an impotent fury that politicians in Ottawa are making decisions with horrendous long term consequences for Canadian families. It is not the role of Canadian troops to fight and lose their lives in a hopeless war on the other side of the world. They must be brought home.
I share Theresa’s concern for the women and children of Afghanistan but, as we have had to do in the West, women there will struggle to maintain their hard won independence in the future. Our presence indefinitely will not make the situation any easier because as long as The Americans and Canadian troops remain, the war will go on and that will bring solace and peace to no one.
Afghanistan must as a nation determine its own long term future.
April 13, 2009 at 6:04 pm
If the Canadians don’t soon leave Afghanistan to the Afghani people they will decide not to leave Canada to the Canadians, much has been done with the USA on 9/11 and in England, Spain, etc. I think we should get our butts out of there while Toronto is still intact, not that I really care for Toronto much.
April 11, 2009 at 2:47 pm
It is obvious that this war cannot be won. We have invaded another country, and every time a body is returned to Canada, we hear the old hackneyed phrases about serving our country, about some young boy dying for the honour of our country. It’s such a shameful and hypocritical excercise. The heroin trade has multiplied since the Americans invaded, and the destruction of the country is appalling. Let’s spend the money on the Afghanis and not the warlords. If the Russians couldn’t do it with over 180000 troops and massive support, and even built roads, hospitals etc. why does the West have the arrogance to think we can. And how many roadside bombs are left over from the Americans dropping their bombs which dispersed into hundreds of bomblets that plowed under the soil?
April 10, 2009 at 9:29 am
My concern is for the Afghan people. Before we went in the women and children were suffering such agony and oppression. I know we cannot win this war and I don’t believe war solves anything, but I don’t know the answer to this problem. Does anyone? I think we should be trying dialogue and doing as much work as possible to support the Afghan people with food, shelter and water. This is where I would like to put our resources.
April 10, 2009 at 7:55 am
Our resources are not for arms but to remove human misery.
April 9, 2009 at 1:54 pm
It is pathetic that so many Canadian political “leaders” are taking a more backward stance on issues of war and peace than the President of the United States. Both Harper and Ignatieff must get the message that Canada needs to spend less on war and more on infrastructure of our cities and rural areas and on social programs which would create jobs for our jobless. It is about time that Canada rededicated itself to creating a nuclear weapons free world.
April 9, 2009 at 11:34 am
My view of our participation in the Afghan war has not been changed by Obama’s arrival in power in the US, since I have always been against our participation there.
April 9, 2009 at 8:41 am
There is nothing like a really good war to perk up an economy. Cynical, but true, this is what the west had planned to do. Why? A war takes the mind of the populace off of their ‘trivial troubles’. It sends bodies off to be paid to wage the war, and in doing so, this engenders paying jobs to those who would be otherwise unemployed. Inevitably, it follows that this, while boosting the home economy, it reduces that population, leaving more jobs for fewer seekers. But most importantly, it magnifies the incomes and the statures of those who have investments in armaments and in the military. Basically, it’s all about ‘caring for those at home’.
Thank you for this opportunity to express my thoughts on war in general.