Why are we still there?

Image retrieved here, on 9/12/09.

Many years have passed since the Canadian troops have been deployed to Afghanistan. As the war between the Taliban and Foreign countries (including us) continues, many of our Canadian soldiers are getting killed in Afghanistan. There are two important questions we have to ask ourselves: What have we done so far and how long is this war going to last? After every effort and blood our soldiers have shed to destroy the Taliban, they just reply to us with greater force and destruction. Are all these sacrifices necessary?

Canada is now starting to seem as an enemy! In their eyes, they see their country turned into a war zone. In Afghanistan, the education is very different from North American and European countries. Therefore, Afghans do not necessarily share the same point of view on the way that Canada and the other countries are operating. They don't approve our presence here because they are not used to the different nations. However, by changing its method, Canada should try to fix these problems and should not have a negative impact on the Afghan population.

Gabriel

References

1.Green Party of Canada.Retrieved december 5, 2009,from: Redesign Canada's role in Afghanistan

Web site: http://www.greenparty.ca/en/policy/visiongreen/afghanistan

2.Beaudet, N. La mission militaire en Afgahnistan pour les nuls, Retrived december 7, 2009, from le temps de Claude.

Web site:http://www.claude.dupras.com/la_mission_militaire_en_afgahnistan_pour_les_nuls_(1).htm

3.Government of Canada.Canada's engagement in Afghansistan. Retrieved december 8, 2009, from Canada's engagement in Afghanistan

Web site: http://www.afghanistan.gc.ca/canada-afghanistan/index.aspx?lang=en

4-Timeline:Canadian deaths in Afghanistan. Retrieved december 8, 2009, from Canwest News service

Website:http://www.canada.com/news/Timeline+Canadian+deaths+Afghanistan/1037437/story.html

5. Canada our of Afghanistan. Retrieved december 10, 2009

Website :http://peacemaking.suite101.com/article.cfm/canada_out_of_afganistan

6. Should Canada be involved in Afghanistan ? Retrieved december 2, 2009. from

Laszlo Parakovits

Website : http://www.helium.com/items/547914-should-canada-be-involved-in-the-nato-war-in-afghanistan

7. Malalai Joya calls on the withdrawal of all the troops from Afghanistan - Youtube. Retrieved december 10, 2009.

Website : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOb6ASTOZB4

8. Afghanistan: Wrong Mission for Canada. Retrieved december 9, 2009.

http://thetyee.ca/Views/2006/10/06/Afghanistan/

9. Canada out of Afghanistan. Retrieved december 2, 2009.

http://www.petitiononline.com/pe070215/petition.html

10. The occupation in Afghanistan:"Useless". Retrieved december 8, 2009, from Alison@Creekside




Website:http://backofthebook.ca/2009/09/22/the-occupaton-of-afganistan-useless/




11.Afghanistan: Wrong mission for Canada. Retrieved 8 december, 2009. from Michael Byer




Website :http://thetyee.ca/Views/2006/10/06/Afghanistan/




12.Canada out of Afghanistan. Retrieved 8 december, 2009, from The Undersigned




Website :http://www.canada.com/news/Timeline+Canadian+deaths+Afghanistan/1037437/story.html



13.Canadians still want Canada out of Afghanistan. Retrieved december 8, 2009, from the Canadian press




Website:http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071104/tories_poll_071104/20071104?hub=Politics



14: What Afghans want. Retrieved december 8, 2009, byAndrew Garfield



website: http://www.fpri.org/enotes/200911.garfield.whatafghanswant.html



15.Canada in Afghanistan: public debate in Ottawa on Canada’s role in Afghanistan. Retrieved 8 december, 2009, from Mr Daniel Orders



Website: http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/press_releases/ottawa_public_debate

What help??

When Canada and other countries from the NATO group were ''forced'' to participate in the Afghan mission, the combat was led to rebuild Afghanistan and eliminate the presence of the Taliban group. However, the hidden, true purpose of their involvement is a discussable matter, and I believe that Canada and the other countries are focussing more on their economy and power. For example, they are taking advantage of the Afghan land because the United States are trying to take charge of the Middle-East territory, who control the petrol production. They should be focussing on helping the Afghan population and not on trying to enrich themselves. Canada's presence was supposed to make a considerable difference in Afghanistan and they are not meeting the expectations. In my opinion, Canada should focus on funding humanitarian projects and on training the Afghan army and security system, to try and lead them to an independent country... they won't be assisted forever. I think that they should also make the security in Afghanistan more consistent. That way, The Afghan society will maybe feel like they are actually getting help!

Tamara

Our help is not wanted!

Malalai Joya, an ex-deputee recently came to Canada to ask for withdrawal of all troops from Afghanistan. Image taken here, retrieved on 11/12/09.

I think that Canada should not be involved in Afghanistan for many reasons. The argument that touches me the most is that Afghanis may not perceive our troops as people trying to help them, but as enemies or intruders imposing their own lifestyle and traditions. This shocks me, because if our help is not wanted, I do not see the point of wasting time, money and human lives in this war.

Afghanistan has been occupied by the Soviet Union, which has ever since been provoking mistrust in foreign interferences. To the Afghanis, there may be no difference between the NATO’s assistance and the URSS’ invasion. I think that seen from that point of view, it is understandable why many Afghanis refuse the NATO’s help, but it is also a good reason for Canada to withdraw its troops. The Taliban’s attacks against the Canadian forces have caused not only military, but also civil deaths and because of these deaths, a large number of the Afghan population cannot see us as people who do any good since their homes, families and villages are destroyed because of our presence.

To conclude, I think that Canada should not be involved if the Afghanis think that they would do better without foreign aid.

Margarita

References : 1, retrieved on 10/12/09 & 2, retrieved on 10/12/09 & 3, retrieved on 27/11/09 & 4, retrieved on 10/12/09

At what cost?

Sending Canadian troops in Afghanistan has cost us billions of dollars each year. I think that we should spend this money for other purposes.

First of all, there are many expenses for this project. In fact, the Canadian government finances this mission to pay the soldiers, provide them with supplies such as food, ammo and weaponry. Also, not to be cold hearted, but we still have to take care of soldiers who are back from Afghanistan for psychiatric treatments (trauma), medical care (injuries) and funerals (fallen ones). Nonetheless, we can prevent all of this from happening. Instead, we could develop our own country. This means we focus on other important matters such as healthcare, by improving waiting time in emergency rooms in hospitals and hiring more nurses and doctors, education, by hiring more teachers and improving our learning program, and maybe the ecological aspect, like promoting cleaner energy production, recycling, public transportation, etc.

This concludes our financial section of this blog, which was trying to make you realize that we should focus more on our country when it comes to economics.

Michael

Definition (What is this Canadian Mission)

Image retrieved here, on 9/12/09.

Canada is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an interdependent alliance between different countries in Europe and in North America. This organization's purpose is that if another ally country is under military conflict, the others must (more or less) defend it against the enemy. That is called mutual defence. In fact, on September 11th 2001, the United States was victim of a terrorist attack (also known as 9/11) by Taliban forces in Afghanistan. They succeeded to crash American airplanes into the "twin towers", killing thousands of people. By following the convention, Canada and other NATO countries are sending troops to help the Americans get rid of the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and to rebuild it. Presently, Canadian soldiers are using military force to seek and eliminate these extremists. As for rebuilding the country, Canada planned to provide the Afghan population with food and different services to try and make their situation better .They will also help rebuild infrastructures. However, we think that this is not the right mission for Canada for many reasons that will be told in the following text.

Why use violence?

Since Canada started deploying soldiers in Afghanistan during the year 2002 to the present, there has been an increase of 108% of bombings. Instead of helping the Afghani rebuild, Canada is just causing more violence. I think the Canadian involvement in Afghanistan is a bit useless. This is my point of view for many reasons but I have one in particular. Violence! Even if the Canadians have a superior number of soldiers than the Taliban, they still know nothing about Afghanistan. The Taliban know where to hide from the Canadian soldiers. Each time the Canadian soldiers win a small battle against the Taliban, the Taliban will just come back stronger. Canada was supposed to bring peace, not violence, they were supposed to help the Afghanis rebuild their country and not to persuade the Taliban to destroy it even more. I think they should be a little less physical and a bit more active to rebuild Afghanistan. There are some Afghanis that say that life was better when the Americans and the Canadians weren't there. Even Jonathan Couturier (131st Canadian soldier who died in Afghanistan) said that Canadian military involvement in Afghanistan was a waste. In conclusion, I think that Canadian involvement in Afghanistan is useless because of the violence that Canada and the Taliban are doing.


Guillaume

About Us

Image retrieved from here, on 11/12/09.

These days, the world is filled with political and military conflicts. Our country is strongly affected by its involvement in the Afghan war. Although Canadian troops have been operating in Afghanistan for many years, some people don't have set opinions on whether we should or should not lend a hand to this country, torn apart by violence and discrimination. For that matter, we think that Canada should withdraw its soldiers from Afghanistan. In this blog, we will be suggesting ideas and stating facts that support our point of view. We will discuss the economic, social, and political aspects, which will help you have a better understanding of the topic.

Remember, speaking your mind is very important and learning about knew things is a very good way to expand your perspective on different subjects. Hopefully, after reading this blog, you will develop your opinion on this contestable subject, which is directly related to the Canadian community.