Canada Afghanistan

The job isn't finished in Afghanistan. Canadian Forces have already sacrificed much to help Afghans overcome a deadly insurgency that tramples on human rights and murders at will. In the Embassy Magazine, Lee Berthiaume explains why Canadians should stay committed militarily until the mission's objectives are won. An excerpt:

Liberal and Conservative members of the Commons' Special Afghanistan committee have been feeling out public opinion on the idea of deploying several hundred military trainers to Kabul to continue helping Afghan security forces get ready to take over responsibility for their security in 2014. The government has remained mum on the idea.

Meanwhile, by next year, Canada will have fulfilled its pledge to contribute $1.9 billion over 10 years for Afghan reconstruction and development. There has been growing criticism that Canada will fail to finish three signature projects or achieve many of the benchmarks it set for itself following the Manley Panel report in 2008. Some have used this as justification for leaving in 2011. Read more »

The Canada Afghanistan Solidarity Committee welcomes the Government of Canada’s participation in the Kabul Conference this week in Afghanistan, as foreign ministers and others from the donor nations to Afghanistan came together for the purpose of outlining a renewed commitment to the people of Afghanistan.

The recommendations for future Canadian support to Afghanistan that arose from the Solidarity Committee’s consultative report, “Keeping Our Promises: Canada in Afghanistan Post-2011”, are more timely now than ever, including the need to invest heavily in the education sector, to support democratic development and good governance, and to continue supporting the professionalization and growth of the Afghan police and army forces. These recommendations echo the many statements, resolutions and recommendations that came from Afghan civil society in the weeks and days leading up to the Kabul Conference.

The Solidarity Committee calls upon the Canadian Government to be attentive to these recommendations, such as those related to development, education, justice reform and security voiced by Afghanistan’s 50% Campaign, led by Women’s Political Participation Committee: Serious attention must also be given to the numerous open letters and statements from women’s networks, such as the 50% Campaign, the Afghan Women’s Network, Equality for Peace and Democracy, the Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs and others, which warn over deal-making with the Taliban and which emphasize repeatedly and unambiguously that women’s rights must not be compromised in any negotiations.

Finally, the Solidarity Committee wishes to express its concern that the Kabul Conference will have been “just another conference” if the international community does not work closely with the Afghan government to ensure accountability for the many promises made to the Afghan people.

Concerns over the likelihood that the new Afghan Peace and Reintegration Plan will not be well-implemented, but will result in huge spending and potential wastage, must be addressed. Canada has a pivotal role to play in multilateral and diplomatic dialogues taking place over Afghanistan and the future of the intervention there, and should use its voice to ensure both good policy and good planning for development and security efforts in Afghanistan now and in the years to come.
 

Is the Afghan government seriously considering selling out the rights of half of its population in order to get a deal with the Taliban? The signs are ominous. Excerpted from a great essay by Wazhma Frogh in the Guardian:

The idea of subsuming women's rights so that the war can end has come in formal and informal talks between some parliamentarians, government officials and is also reported to be part of cynical discussions among some of the international diplomats in Kabul gatherings.

Many women activists believe the growing Talibanisation of the Afghan government will not only bring further instability, as it could upset the diverse ethnic composition of Afghanistan, but also predict that they will pay for this political settlement with their rights.

Despite receiving promises from the members of the international community and the Afghan government about the so-called "red lines" of talks with the Taliban, women activists are concerned that recent developments are step-by-step moves towards the loss of women's rights.

The Afghan peace jirga earlier this month legitimised criminal aspects of the insurgency by referring to offenders merely as political "angry brothers". It ensured that impunity will continue – for example, through the formation of a commission to review the cases of militant prisoners.

In the past two weeks, according to Afghan national television, around 15 ex-combatants have been released from two prisons in Parwan and Kabul. The longest trial that took place was four hours.

Women activists fear that the judiciary is not equipped to distinguish between the guilty and the innocent. As a result, notorious war criminals and human rights violators will be released under this political settlement, including the men that threw acid in the faces of girls in Kandahar, those who assassinated the senior police officer, Malalai Kakar, and those militants who continue to target girls' schools.

Watch CASC's Terry Glavin on CTV, discussing the latest Taliban brutality against women and children in Afghanistan:

The overwhelming majority of Afghans want and believe in the notion that girls should be able to go to school, that women should be able to go to work, to run for and hold political office. The Taliban is despised by the vast majority of the country and it seems to me Canadians should start talking very seriously about what Canada should be doing in Afghanistan post-2011.

Afghanistan's future depends on how much foresight, political will and determination will be forthcoming from the Afghan leadership and the many nations involved, says Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan's former foreign minister and a leading contender in the country's 2009 presidential election.

Naturally, Abdullah reminds that Karzai is not necessarily the only leader that can make things happen. Indeed, Karzai's strategy of reconciliation with the Taliban is frightening much of the population and leaving international backers confused. An excerpt from Foreign Policy:

Following closely on the heels of Karzai's visit to Washington last week, Abdullah concentrated on the importance of strengthening Afghanistan's democracy. "The success of the Afghan government ... will depend on the trust and sympathy of the majority of people in Afghanistan," he told his American audience. Unless the country's government drastically improves, the Taliban would still find willing recruits among Afghanistan's population. Afghans "want a moderate Islamic country, democracy, equal rights, respect for women's rights, education, and [to live] at peace with one another in a dignified manner," Abdullah asserted...

Abdullah Abdullah: First of all, the peace jirga is mainly a government-led initiative. It should have been a national, much more broadly based initiative, in order to gain the trust of the people. Some people in the country have interpreted this effort as an attempt to bring the Taliban back. I'm not saying that this is an attempt in that direction, but that perception -- it matters. Those things are not being considered in the preparation of the jirga. To think that we can bring [the Taliban] back [into the political process] -- they are not fighting there because they cannot be painters or carpenters. Part of the incentives is vocational training for the ex-combatants. I don't know. 

Abdullah poured cold water on the Karzai government's hope that it can offer Taliban forces incentives to abandon the insurgency and rejoin the political process. "They are not fighting to join the system -- a democratic system," he said. "They want to take Afghanistan back to the old days, where Afghanistan was the heart to international terrorism." 

A panel on May 20 in Regina will respond to the question: What Should Canada Do in Afghanistan Post-2011?

Location

Royal Saskatchewan Museum Theatre
2445 Albert Street 

Date and Time

Thursday, May 20
7-9 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.