Canadians Have Much To Agree About When It Comes To Afghanistan

In light of polls that make me doubt whether many of my fellow
Canadians truly understand what’s at stake in Afghanistan, I’d like to
go over a few assumptions I have about my fellow citizens.

If you ask Canadians whether respect for human rights ought to be universal, everyone will agree.

If you ask them whether Canadians ought to care much about people
who live beyond our borders, the vast majority will agree that we
should (and the slim minority who oppose this can go rot).

If you ask them whether we should surrender to thugs who throw acid
in the faces of schoolgirls, shoot humanitarian workers with automatic
weapons, and use children as bomb delivery units, only a few cowardly
and soulless Canucks would dare to say “aye” to that.

If you ask Canadians whether we should allow hundreds of thousands
of people, or even millions, to fall victim to such thugs and the
violence they bring, when as a rich and developed nation we have the
capacity to stop this evil, I cannot believe that most would agree to
that.

If you ask under what circumstances Canadians might use their
military to fight such threats far beyond our borders, certainly most
would agree that it must be a multilateral, international effort given
sanction by the United Nations.

When it comes to Afghanistan, I think most Canadians support this
mission. The pollsters just need to start asking the right questions.

I was given the opportunity to answer some questions for CNN on the
issue of Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan from the perspective of
the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee.
The essence of my remarks: “We’re for a robust involvement, and if
[Afghanistan] is going to get back on its feet after decades of war,
it’s only going to do so with huge international involvement. So, more,
not less.”

(Cross-posted from Currents)