Why Canadian troops have gone to Afghanistan
It is perhaps not surprising that a Globe and Mail poll reveals that an astonishing 62 per cent of Canadians oppose the decision to send troops to Afghanistan. There was, after all, no parliamentary debate last year on the nation's heightened commitment to that fragile state. The issue of our increasing deployment barely surfaced in the recent election, even though 2,300 Canadian soldiers were then preparing to move into the perilous southern province of Kandahar. As General Rick Hillier, Chief of the Defence Staff, ruefully acknowledged yesterday, "Many Canadians do not know or understand the complexities of what the Afghan mission is about, why we are there and its critical importance to Canada. The number . . . indicates we have a significant challenge."
The government could tackle that challenge with a belated parliamentary discussion. If nothing else, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor could spell out how and why Canada will take command of the multinational brigade headquarters in Kandahar next week. It is a legitimate and honourable undertaking. After the terrorist attacks of September, 2001, and the ousting of Afghanistan's Taliban regime, that nation's new leaders worked with the United Nations to provide security. The resulting International Security Assistance Force operates with a UN mandate under the command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with 9,000 soldiers from 26 NATO members and 10 non-NATO members. Although the southern regions, including the multinational brigade, are now under U.S. command, NATO is expected to assume control over the region within several months.
The mission is dangerous, but worthy. Kandahar was the headquarters of al-Qaeda, and the region is rife with warlords, drug smugglers and extremist factions. Last year, when the former Liberal government announced it would move its forces from the relative safety of Kabul to Kandahar, almost tripling troop strength, then-defence-minister Bill Graham went on a brave speaking tour in late summer to outline the dangers. Almost no one paid attention as he made the point that if extremists win the upper hand in Afghanistan, they could destabilize a nation that has braved enormous odds to hold free elections over the past two years. Those extremists could also turn ancient Afghanistan into a terrorist enclave once again that could threaten global stability.
Surely it is time that Ottawa tackled the glaring gap between Canadian public opinion and global needs. The government could start with a thorough debate about Afghanistan -- if only because 73 per cent of Canadians believe the deployment should have parliamentary approval. In fact, no House of Commons motion could deter the government's decision to move into Kandahar. As University of Toronto constitutional-law expert Sujit Choudhry notes, "the legal power to deploy troops is one of cabinet's powers under the National Defence Act, and it stems from the Crown's inherent power to make peace and war." But the very airing of the issues would be an end in itself.
As well, Prime Minister Stephen Harper should follow through with his preliminary plans to visit the forces in their dangerous encampment. That high-level mission might do what Ottawa should have done months ago: secure national support for this vital initiative.
