As we observed the other day, Canada's political opposition seems obsessively and counter-productively focused on the treatment of detainees captured by Canadian Forces on the battlefield and handed over to Afghan authorities - years ago, of course.

More commentary from analysts and Afghans confirms that while Canadians can't seem to stop talking about it, Afghans themselves have more important things to deal with, such as whether they will be abandoned and left to fight a civil war if international support is withdrawn after 2011. This excellent report by Adrian MacNair explains:

It turns out that Afghans themselves also don't seem to be particularly interested. Najia Haneefi, a founder of the Afghan Women Political Participation Committee in Kabul, who now lives in Ottawa, said that the obsession with the issue in some quarters of Ottawa and the Canadian media is misplaced. She told me she wishes that Canadians would instead pay more attention to the threat of a sellout of human rights by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is pursuing negotiations with senior Taliban leaders.

Zaman Sultani is the Kabul representative for the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee. He said that the people he has talked to have not brought up the detainee issue.

"I am not sure if people would care much, because they are still suffering from insecurity, road-side bombs, and suicide attacks from the Taliban," he writes via email from Kabul...

Surveys conducted in the past year by the BBC, Red Cross and the Asia Foundation consistently revealed that at least 70% of Afghans thought their country was heading in the right direction and would improve in 2010. Afghans owe that optimism almost entirely to the continued presence of international forces.

Very blunt talk from Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada is likely to send shockwaves through Canada's parliament. While opposition parties have railed against the government on the issue of "Afghan detainees", direction on the big picture of Canada's role in Afghanistan is being ignored.

Afghanistan Ambassador to Canada Jawed Ludin says the focus ought not to be on the detainees issue that was dealt with in the past -- the Conservatives and all opposition parties ought to be having a responsible discussion about what Canada's role in Afghanistan looks like post-2011. Anything less would be an insult to Canadians who have sacrificed much for this mission. In the Vancouver Sun:

"We need discussion in Canada about where Afghanistan is going, how important it is that Canada support us and how important it is that the support continue in some shape or form. That discussion is not happening because this story has totally dominated discussion in Parliament."

The soft-spoken Ludin also said that Canada's contributions in Afghanistan have been crucial, particularly the stabilization of Kandahar, although the scheduled pullout in 2011 has him concerned.

Afghans would accept an end to Canada's combat mission, he said, but leaving entirely would baffle them. After Canada's years and sacrifices, Afghans do not understand why the nation would want to leave before the greater successes, which Ludin believes will come soon.

"We would like to believe that you are really serious about success in Afghanistan, that this wasn't just an exercise for your military to get some experience on the battlefield. We would like to believe you were actually there for us, which I believe is the case," he said. "It's a bit difficult to understand why some people now question wether you should be there. It's a bit of an insult, to be honest, to all the sacrifices that have been made."

Discussion about Canada's engagement in Afghanistan has been lacking in a very important way: news reporters and pundits have often seemed reluctant to go and ask living, breathing Afghan-Canadians what they think about it.

Sometimes, the punditry on Canadian policy in this area can seem like an echo chamber. But several journalists took advantage of the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee's panel in Toronto last week to gain uncommon insight. An excerpt from his Macleans column:

The event was organized by the Canada Afghanistan Solidarity Committee, and I was there to moderate a panel that included Bob Rae, Canada’s former ambassador to Afghanistan (and now federal Conservative nominee) Chris Alexander, and the B.C. journalist and CASC co-founder Terry Glavin. The keynote address was given by Jawed Ludin, the Afghan ambassador to Canada.

The discussion was pegged to a new paper, written by Alexander, called “Ending The Agony: Seven Moves To Stabilize Afghanistan.” In the paper, Alexander lays out what he sees as the international priorities for success in Afghanistan, which include ensuring fair elections, renewing the public service, and doing a better job coordinating the civilian and military missions.

It’s fairly obvious stuff, which is why the question at issue was not what should be done over there, but what role Canada should play. After all, while there is a parliamentary resolution requiring the termination of only our combat mission in Kandahar province, every political party in Ottawa has encouraged the widespread perception that it demands the end of our entire military mission. Meanwhile, despite various trial balloons flown from NATO headquarters and explicit requests from the Americans that we consider staying in Kandahar or maybe moving to a different province, the government has shut down the beginnings of any debate.

And so the people of Afghanistan could be forgiven for feeling that Canada is preparing to abandon them. This was clear from the opening remarks by one of the organizers, Babur Mawladin. I expected the slightly nervous, bespectacled fellow to say a few words of welcome before turning the microphone over to the speakers. Instead, he gave a 10-minute stemwinder, in Dari and in English, that had them pounding on the tables. “We made mistakes,” he yelled. “But we did not make a mistake when we freed Afghanistan, and the job is not done. We must finish the job, and we must do it right.”

That was a prelude to Ludin’s opening remarks. When things go well, said Ludin, for his part, we all like to take the credit. But when things go rough, “the critical thing, the honourable thing, is to stay committed.” Yes, he conceded, Canada has suffered, but you can’t leave because things have got hard. “Canada has been a friend to Afghanistan in good times; we need Canada to be a friend in bad times.”

Tonight is another panel on this topic, happening in Edmonton, AB. Details below:

Date & Time:
Tuesday April 27thTime: 7-9pm

Location:
Telus Centre on the University of Alberta campus (87 Avenue NW & 112 St NW, Edmonton)

Presenting:
H.E. Jawed Ludin, Afghanistan's Ambassador to Canada
Terry Glavin, award-winning writer, journalist and founding member of CASC
Najia Haneefi, Founder of the Women's Political Participation Committee (Afghanistan)
Lauryn Oates, Canadian human rights and education activist

Refreshments served 

Canada's commitment to Afghanistan has involved a huge amount of aid to local projects promoting education, health and basic infrastructure. Is this aid making a long-term difference?

As Ethan Baron reports for Canwest News, that depends on whether the villagers truly support the national project or are essentially Taliban supporters taking advantage of Canada's generosity. The locals who truly support real development for their own people with Canada's help, rather than short term gains from a welfare bureaucracy, are naturally doing better.

First, the village that is on board with the rest of the Afghan nation, the international mission and against the Taliban:

Across the road in Angurian, the gutters are clear of sludge, the paths largely free of garbage. Even the children are cleaner. Through the middle of the village runs a 550-metre stone canal wall, built by the CMO...

In Angurian's medical clinic, built with $13,000 in Provincial Reconstruction Team funding, women are treated by a male doctor, a rarity in southern Afghanistan.

The soldiers leave the village and to visit Muhammad at a CMO irrigation project half a kilometre away. The project employs 120 people, who receive $300 to $400 a week, excavating more than 300 metres of canal. 

In Angurian, our aid seems to be doing exactly what it was designed to do: help Afghans with a hand up so the village can prosper and the children will have an opportunity for a better life. In contrast, there is the village of West Teymurian, where support for the national project is grudging and locals' loyalty to the Afghan national project and to international donors who have given so generously may be fleeting. The quality of local leadership combined with the sense of community can make all the difference in the world, for better or worse:

Inside the village, a toddler sits on a dirt road, her feet in a Canadian- built concrete gutter clotted with sewage, mud and trash. She looks at the soldiers and starts to cry...

He looks down at a clogged gutter, a Construction Management Organization project from late last year. ``They expect us to do everything for them.''

Near the village's centre, Denninger had a community well repaired three days earlier. Now, beneath the spout, an Afghan man is scraping hair off a charred sheep carcass while a boy works the still-intact pump. Usually, impoverished villagers quickly steal the new parts for their own wells, Denninger says.

 

The Canadian Veterans in Afghanistan report will be on Vancouver OMNI channel 8, Ariana TV, May 1st at 11am-1200pm. PST.

The same program will be repeated on Monday May 3rd at 1:00pm PST.

Camera Operator & Editor: Wahid Nabi
Broadcaster: Dr. Spogmai Wassimi

How do ordinary Afghans feel about the long-term prospects for their country? Particularly for women in Afghanistan, the answer depends upon how much support the outside world can give. Efforts by groups such as Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan are definitely having a good effect. Fakhria Ibrahimi, a Hazara woman who has high hopes for her embattled country, tells her story at the Minority Rights site:

I live in Kabul and am a member of the Hazara community, most of whom live in central Afghanistan. Our customs and culture are not so different from the Pashtun majority, but we are mainly Shia Muslims and speak Farsi. We also have some special words from the Mongolian and Turkish languages...

I work for an organisation called Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan which supports women in my country through education, capacity building, health care, handicrafts and libraries. My work involves collecting reports, documents and photographs of our local Afghan partners.

Many women access our services - word spreads fast through the neighbourhood networks and through social activities.

My work has shown me how open Hazara people are. When I knocked on the doors of Hazara families in small villages in the countryside and told them I was a photographer for an international organisation and would like to take photographs to send to Europe and America in order to show how life is in Afghanistan and build support, they accepted straight away. There has been a change, this would not have happened 10 years ago - Hazara people were very repressed when the Taliban were in power.

I am 32 years old. I completed my schooling in Kabul, but when the Taliban captured the city I went to Pakistan and continued my education at university in Peshawar. I studied medicine for two years but because of personal issues I couldn’t continue.

When I came back to Kabul after the fall of Taliban I took some classes on women and politics, and, as I was interested in photography I took courses on photography and filmmaking for women.

My family have always supported what I do. My husband in particular helps me a lot on my trips to rural areas. I wouldn’t be able to travel alone, so he comes with me.