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Canada Out of Afghanistan

Reasons why Canada should withdraw military support from Afghanistan

Jan 30, 2007 Paula Kirman

The Canadian public is being sold a bill of goods when it comes to military involvement in Afghanistan. Here are reasons why the Canadian government should withdraw.

Afghanistan has been in the headlines of most major Canadian newspapers for quite a while now, mostly stories of Canadian soldiers being killed or maimed. It is unfortunate that the message also being reported to Canadians is that the country's military presence is necessary over there and is effecting positve changes in Afghanistan.

For example, Canadians have been told that the military is taking part in reconstruction efforts while helping to restore democracy – both of which activities are actually fronts for propping up a puppet regime imposed by the United States. Afghanistan’s current president Hamid Karzai is actually a former consultant to Unocal – a US oil company. And others in the Northern Alliance are merely Taliban dropouts, drug lords, and warlords.

Another myth is that the war in Afghanistan is about rights for women. Actually, this is probably the biggest supposed reason the Canadian military is over there -- to protect women from teh burka. However, between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance, not as much has changed as people may be led to believe. Drug lords and warlords are not known for their benevolent treatment of women. Besides, this is a very simplistic argument. The US has diplomatic relations with numerous countries that have human rights issues, particularly of women.

For more information about so-called women's rights in Afghanistan under the puppet regime, check out the website for Malalai Joya. Joya is a female Member of Parliament in Afghanistan whose life has literally been threatened for speaking out. Another excellent site is Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA).

And if you would like to hear more reasons why Canada should not be in Afghanistan, watch this video, which is presented by an academic during a teach-in on this very topic. It is about fifteen monutes long. I really appreciate his main points: that occupation in a foreign country has never historically brought about peace. As well, violence merely begets violence.

It is a fallacy for peace activists to be portrayed as anti-military, unpatriotic slobs. This is not true. Many of those in the peace movement support our troops. We want to show this support by bringing them home.

The copyright of the article Canada Out of Afghanistan in Law, Crime & Justice is owned by Paula Kirman. Permission to republish Canada Out of Afghanistan in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.