Optimistic June

I was thoroughly disappointed during the first few weeks of my time in Ottawa when I saw people around me talk of Afghanistan only when it came to peripheral issues, the real issue such as the post 2011 engagement was the giant elephant in the Ottawa that all saw but no one talked about.

Adding to the anguish was the fact that some people, armed with narrow understanding concepts of tribes, jirgas, war and honour in Afghanistan, haphazardly applied their so called lessons learnt from the Great Game and the Cold War onto the 21st Century Afghanistan and started rhetoric of imminent defeat and failure. This I found not only disrespectful to the gains of the Canadian armed forces but also to the Afghan people who have shown their support of education and peace by continuing to engage in the country’s development and fighting the Taliban.

June brought a welcome change!

The Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence reported after visits to Afghanistan that, although Canadian troops will pull out, the Canadian role in Afghanistan would not end in 2011. Canada would continue to focus on its 6 priorities in Afghanistan which are helping provide security, basic services, humanitarian assistance, institution building, reconciliation with elements of the insurgency, and a more secure border with Pakistan. You can find the full Committee report here: http://www.parl.gc.ca/40/3/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/defe-e/rep-e/rep04jun10-e.pdf

I was glad that the debate started to change from that of disengement into one of changing the engagement from a combat one to something else.
Now post 2011 engagement is a blank canvass; Canada has a chance to make of it what it wants. The idea of training the Afghan National Police as put forward, amongst others, by Honourable Michael Ignatieff, is a superb one. With the Canadian experience and expertise in Kandahar, creation of an elite regional police training academy there would not go amiss.
Another sector Canada can be effective is higher education. The international community must not pull out of Afghanistan unless a generation of Afghan highly educated leadership is ready to take charge therefore investment is higher education must be the first step to any eventual pull out from Afghanistan.

Once again Canada, with its foothold in the region, can leave a strong and valuable legacy if it developed the Kandahar University so that it becomes a major centre of learning. It is after all the only place young men and women can engage in higher education in the region.

And of course there is significant Canadian presence in field of development, which could be expanded and extended post 2011.

Before I start to sound like a preacher I better stop here as I enjoy the excitement in anticipation of all the debates to come over BBQ’s in summer and once the parliament comes back in September.