Afghan ambassador to Canada: don't give up the fight

[40below]

Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada says this country's commitment to Afghanistan is helping to keep Canadian citizens safe.

While thanking Canada for its efforts, Omar Samad warned that even after seven years of massive military engagement and political and humanitarian aid, the country has only travelled about one-third of the way to being able to run itself.

"Some people have notions that the reason the west is in Afghanistan is for oil or for gas, or for some sort of geo-strategic advantage in regards to Russia or China, but that is not the case," he said yesterday at Queen's University, in one of his last public appearances before he returns to Afghanistan after nearly five years here.

"The countries that have joined this mission understand that if you don't solve the problems in Afghanistan, they will become your problems in terms of terrorism and other threats ... the No. 1 reason countries are there is that it is in their self-interest to be there.

"You need to feel safe, and you need to know that the problems that unfortunately affect my region will not reach out and affect you in any way shape or form."

http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1497764

 

[MarkOttawa]

The ambassador makes good points. He also says:

While his country has been devastated by more than 30 years of warfare and fanatical religious rule, Samad says the mistakes of the past will not be repeated.

He said one of the biggest oversights, and one that led to the Taliban taking over the country, was that during the 1980s and the 1990s, the fight to drive the Soviets out of the country was the only goal.

Large numbers of Westernsupported and armed zealots, largely foreign born and schooled in religious madrassas, became the Taliban and went on to support and shelter al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups when they ran the country.

"Nobody thought about a post-Soviet era in Afghanistan -- everyone was concentrating on defeating the Soviets and no one thought about what would happen after that."

But it is hard to see what the West (read mainly the US) could have done. The civil war against the Communist regime continued, after the 1989 final Soviet withdrawal, until 1992 when it was toppled; then civil war amongst the various Mujahedin groups broke out, with the Taliban only emerging (with Pakistani encouragement and assistance) to take Kandahar in 1994 and Kabul in 1996.

And remember the Talibs were quite distinct from the Mujahedin that the US, Pakistan and others had supported. The Talibs actually sprang largely from Pathan refugees grown up in Pakistan--and educated in madrassas.

What effectively could have been done to help Afghanistan in the midst of such turmoil, short of a major military intervention that no-one would ever contemplate at the time?

Indeed, "to drive the Soviets out of the country was the only goal." Western publics would not have supported any large or continuing intervention by their countries subsequent to the Soviets' forces leaving. Look at the problems in keeping support for the recent effort.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[GAP]

Many here will remember the commentary from all corners of the West about the Taliban being a stabilizing influence after the Soviets and the battles of the various fractions vying for power.......they ended up being an influence all right....something about being careful what you wish for.....

 

[Lecterl]

Hummm, I wonder where all the CBC reporting on this event is. God knows if dogs left in trash bins, dead seabirds, and scrutiny of Obama wearing a shirtsleeve shirt can make headlines you'd think an "Ambassador" from "Afghanistan" giving speeches would at least make the honourable mention stage.

...oh wait there's no reasonable ammunition for controversy in this story so that would disqualify it from the reporting guru's ... of course that never stopped CBC before.