A Worthwhile Mission Needs Worthwhile Attention

The topic for this blog was outlined in the course syllabus as “We Are At War: What is your response”. To me that title says it all; originally this was a peacekeeping mission and now 98 troops have died fighting for peace. This mission has been extremely disorganized. During the start of this mission in 2002, Canadians felt proud fighting for peace and tearing down the Taliban’s hold on Afghanistan. We immediately saw change as women stopped wearing their burka’s and more schools were built. However, when many troops were moved to the southern region of Afghanistan the Taliban fought back. All of a sudden, we found ourselves at war.

Since then we have extended the mission to 2011 and I agree with this decision only if the war is given enough political attention. With the Harper Government in charge, I found that the Afghanistan mission did not focus on peacekeeping and rebuilding. I agree immensely with the Manley report which states that 1000 troops be added by our allies and their focus shifts from combat to diplomacy. The report also states that the military focus on training the Afghan army. I believe that following this report may lead to success in the near future. We must stop fighting and empower the Afghan army to take charge of the Taliban. I have great respect for the men and women fighting for peace in the name of Canada, therefore let us stop wasting their time and put the Manley report to test.