Canadian soldiers fought a fierce battle against the Taliban on Tuesday for the second day in a row, alongside soldiers from the Afghan National Army.
In Nalgham, about 35 kilometres south-west of Kandahar city, members of Hotel company made their way over mud walls and through waist-high water, as militants shot at them with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire.
The Afghan Senate doesn't support the strategy:
Afghanistan's Senate called on the government yesterday to hold direct talks with the Taliban and other opposition forces in a bid to end the rising bloodshed in the country.
The Senate, the upper house of the Afghan parliament, also urged Western troops in the U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces to halt the hunt for Taliban fighters.
If a Afghan government organ wants us to stop actively pursuing Taliban fighters, then it begs the question, what exactly is the purpose of our mission? It would seem Afghans don't support what our troops are doing, and since we are there on their behalf, what exactly are we doing?
3 comments:
Good point Steve and as I said in an earlier comment, were we not supposed to be helping the country to re-build? but how easy would it be now that NATO (and therefore Canadian troops and by extension anything "Canadian" (NGO's for example)) appear to persona non grata according to the Afghan Parliament?
Has Canada missed/lost (no thanks to the current Canadian "regime") the opportunity to be helpful in a meaningful way (schools, healthcare, infrastructure, …. dare I say women’s rights) for that poor country. Often the most positive changes are made one small step at a time.
Whooee! Them Afghanis just don't know what's best fer their own good. We gotta kill 'em to save 'em from hurtin' themselves.
A few weeks ago, Karzai confirmed that he was already engaged in negotiations with the Taliban. Now, the Afghan senate wants "direct" talks. Hmmm... isn't that how Taliban Jack got the name Taliban Jack?
So, let's stand back and take a look.
Our allies in NATO and our own leaders say there's no way we can negotiate with the Taliban but the leader of the country for which our young people are dying is doing just that... in secret.
We say we're there to help the Afghan government but a large part of that government doesn't want us there. Karzai, himself, has been very critical of the amount of killing done by NATO.
Our leaders say we're making great progress but Taliban attacks have risen continually and areas we've "liberated" have since fallen back into Taliban hands.
Our so-called allies in NATO have refused to shoulder the heavy lifting. Other NATO countries either refuse to go to Afghanistan or refuse to deploy to dangerous areas of the country.
Since the invasion, opium has become the main source of revenue for the country. Warlords reign in most areas. Perhaps, the very senators calling for NATO to get out are warlords or representatives of warlords.
The mission has gone south.
JimBobby
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