Canada Afghanistan politics

The House of Commons voted in 2008 to create a special committee that would set out the scope of Canada's engagement in Afghanistan. Since then, the committee has not only utterly failed in its mandate -- it has actively helped facilitate a dishonest inquisition about detainees to almost ensure that no role for Canada in Afghanistan will be politically feasible. 

Paul Chapin, former director general for international security at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, takes on the issues in the Montreal Gazette:

In March 2008, the House of Commons approved a government motion that set parameters for Canada's future engagement in Afghanistan, including ending Canada's presence in Kandahar in July 2011. In addition, the motion proposed the establishment of a special committee to meet with ministers and officials, travel to the region, and "make frequent recommendations on the conduct and progress of our efforts in Afghanistan."

Instead, for many months now, the special committee on the Canadian mission in Afghanistan has been conducting hearings intended to uncover evidence that government officials and Canadian Forces personnel have been guilty of war crimes in Afghanistan. First came the denunciations, then the hunt for proof. An inquisition by any definition.

The hue and cry has become so loud and insistent, the public hears only from the accusers. Some of Canada's most distinguished citizens have been called war criminals, those who have dissented have been called liars or dupes -- and normally responsible politicians and media outlets, whether out of fear or expediency, have allowed outlandish claims to go unchallenged.

If we are to get at the truth about Afghan detainees, we need to restore some decency to our political discourse. Then we need to dispel myths that have become conventional wisdom through repetition.

The Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee has released a report urging Canada to continue an active role in Afghanistan after the military mission ends next year. Committee co-founder Terry Glavin and Nasrine Gross, an Afghan-American writer at Kabul University, discuss the situation on the ground.