The war in Afghanistan has claimed the lives of 133 Canadian soldiers, affected numerous more with life-altering physical injuries and mental traumas, and will cost an estimated $18.1 billion.
It is a war that has claimed the lives of thousands of Afghans, hundreds of coalition soldiers, and has left the country less secure for development work. It is also a war that does not have the support of the majority of Canadians, and, despite these heavy sacrifices, very likely cannot be ‘won’.
In their book The Unexpected War: Canada in Kandahar, political scientist Janice Gross Stein and Eugene Lang write that General Rick Hillier pushed for Canadian troops in Kandahar to impress the Pentagon and then-U.S. president George W. Bush.
Globe and Mail columnist Lawrence Martin has written that, “A former, highly placed Defence Department official (says) the reason the Liberals took up the mission was not out of any great noble purpose. It was principally because they had no choice. They had to appease Washington for not having joined the invasion of Iraq.”
In August 2006, the Council of Canadians issued a statement calling for the immediate, safe and orderly withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan. At that point, 20 Canadian soldiers had been killed in the war.
In March 2008, after the deaths of 79 Canadian soldiers, the House of Commons voted to extend the war in Afghanistan past 2009 and for the military mission to conclude in July 2011. Our action alert against this extension of the war can be read at http://canadians.org/action/2008/10-Mar-08.html.
As of this Remembrance Day, the mandated end of the military mission is still a full two years away. At the current rate of casualties that could mean the deaths of another 60 Canadian soldiers.
And already the Harper government has indicated that an unspecified number of Canadian troops may remain in Afghanistan in a training and support role past December 2011, and speculation continues that the United States will press for Canada to maintain its current war-fighting role.
TAKE ACTION
Write Prime Minister Stephen Harper at pm@pm.gc.ca and your own Member of Parliament to tell them that you support the immediate, safe and orderly withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan.
Let us recommit ourselves to stop the war in Afghanistan and to work to end all wars.
