With the Canadian Prime Minister recently visiting Afghanistan. I read this letter to the editor in the National Post on Thursday March 9th.
I served as a reservist with the 48th Highlanders of Canada and went to the former Yugoslavia as a "peacekeeper" in the area of Krajina, Croatia, in 1994. This was after the famous battle for the Medak Pocket and just before the Croat expulsion of the Serbs. On Dec. 31, 1994, our Iltis was surounded by about 30 belligerents, who opened fire at point-blank range. I received seven gunshot wounds, four of which were to my head. Our driver was hit three times, twice in the back, but was able to drive the vehicle to our main camp on two tires. That night he saved our lives, using his lightly built Iltis to blow more than 100 rounds. That vehicle is now on display at the Canadian War Museum, with evidence of the damage.
The point of my letter is to support your editorial about the need to stay in Afghanistan. We "peacekeepers" were in the line of sites to every angry belligerent. We sat with the locals, we patrolled the area of operation and we tried our best to maintain calm. But we were always under threat. Our troops now are doing exactly the same today, but at least they have a drection and a mission to use force if necessary. We had the same mandate, but our use of force was restricted, as the general public was used to hearing "soldier" and "peace" in the same sentence.
I would like to thank the Post for explaining to Canadians that we who serve are soldiers first, whose actions bring about peace, not "peacekeepers" who act as soldiers.
John Tescione, Toronto.
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3 comments:
First of all, congrats on reading a paper other than the Sun!
Dude here's the problem.
Everybody knows that our troops are dynamic determined individuals who want to do what's right and bring about peace in Afghanistan. They put their lives on the line hoping that they're mission, when executed properly, will bring them closer to the goal.
However the "Mission" is unclear to most people, so here's what i've garnered from the DND website.
The Canadian mission in Afghanistan is:
1.Stabilization and extension of Afghan government authority in this region is a critical priority for the Afghan government. We are confident that Canada's whole-of-government approach can achieve results in Kandahar's complex environment... Canada, and the world, have a strategic interest in a secure, self-sufficient, democratic and stable Afghanistan that never again provides a safe haven for terrorists or terrorist organizations.
The problem here is what is a terrorist. To our view, it is the Taliban, who allowed and encouraged al-qaeda to attack the west. However when Brown guys kill brown guys, we're not so quick to condemn them. In fact in the eyes of many afghan's we have eliminated one oppressive group, and supplanted them with another.
The south is the Pashtun heartland and was the core of Taliban rule. The Northern Alliance, dominated by ethnic Tajiks and Uzbeks, cannot march here. Instead, the Alliance and its Western backers were trying to persuade Pashtun tribal leaders and former mujahideen to revolt and overthrow a Taliban regime weakened by US bombing and the presence of 1,000 US Marines on a desert airstrip in the region.
But the policy created a vacuum of power. Into the void have flooded warlords, based over the border in the Pakistani city of Quetta, who ruled before the Taliban came.
In the villages around Kandahar there is a name that provokes horror and fear. It is not Mullah Omar, nor is it Osama bin Laden. It is Gul Agha, the former mujahideen governor of Kandahar, whose tribal militia is backed and advised by the US.
Ghlume Walli fled from Agha's men near his hometown of Khalat to a makeshift tent at the border. 'Gula Agha's men would have robbed me even of these water bottles,' he said, holding up two dirty plastic cartons filled with brown water.
His friend Mohamed Sami agreed. He had been herding his cattle near Khalat when Agha's militia stopped him at gunpoint and slaughtered his herd.
He draws his finger across his throat. 'They are looters. Everyone is afraid. They killed every last one of the cattle,' he said.
Agha and several thousand fighters crossed into Afghanistan a day after Kabul fell. Police sources in Pakistan believe he is heavily involved in the lucrative opium trade. His followers are drawn mainly from the poor and destitute of the refugee camps. When he governed in Kandahar the city was ruled by warlords who stripped it of everything of value. Rape and robbery were commonplace
Gul Agha is still the govenor of Kandahar. This is the government we are propping up. We are not encouraging him to change his ways, we are not encouraging him to enact reforms. We are assisting him to kill Taliban fighters and become the "stable" ruler.
Most Canadian's do not understand this.
One thing I didn't know about this mission, is that it's UN sanctioned. I always thought it was just NATO.
But, If it's ok by the UN, it's fine by me. It's a means to an end.
I have to correct an error that occured in my last post. Gul Agha, is no longer the governor of Kandahar. Yusuf Pashtun has served as governor of this southern Afghanistan province since August, when President Hamid Karzai fired Gul Agha Shirzai, the warlord who had run it since the Taliban militia fell in late 2001. (Earlier, Pashtun had served as Shirzai’s spokesman.)
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