Afghan dangers deepen

The recent deaths of six soldiers in a roadside explosion are the first Canadian casualties after the Conservative government's controversial motion took effect extending the military mission in Afghanistan. Michael Byers, academic director of UBC's Liu Institute for Global Issues, pointed out that the two-year extension took effect on March 1.

"So these are the first casualties in hostile action that we've suffered since the extension kicked into force," Byers told the Georgia Straight. "In that very important sense, these are Stephen Harper's first casualties."

Shortly before the Straight went to press on April 11, CTV reported that two more Canadian soldiers had been killed in Afghanistan. Ottawa hadn't released any details by deadline.

There are currently about 2,500 members of the Canadian Forces stationed in Afghanistan. Sgt. Donald Lucas, Cpl. Brent D. Poland, Cpl. Aaron E. Williams, Pte. Kevin V. Kennedy, Pte. David R. Greenslade, and Cpl. Christopher P. Stannix were killed on Easter Sunday when their light-armoured vehicle struck an "improvised explosive device", according to the National Defence Department.

Byers said it's more dangerous to be a Canadian soldier in Kandahar than to be a U.S. soldier in Iraq. "This bomb that killed the six Canadian soldiers would have had to have been an extremely powerful and sophisticated weapon," Byers said.

He added that this bomb was so destructive that it would have "sent a chill down the spine" of the entire officer corps of the Canadian Forces. "Regardless of one's views of the politics or of the wisdom of the mission, we all know that our soldiers are doing their very best at whatever task is given to them," Byers said.

Retired Surrey resident Muhammad Osman Akhtary, a former police officer in Kabul, told the Straight that he thinks there will be "chaos" if foreign troops leave his former country. But he added that there will be no security if the foreign troops stay. "The people of Afghanistan don't like outsiders, no matter who they are," Akhtary said.

Akhtary, who wrote a short book on the history of Afghanistan, said that most Afghans are not impressed with the government headed by Hamid Karzai because it has done little to improve their lives. Akhtary said that Canadian troops became a target when they replaced the U.S. forces fighting in the country's southern region. "The people knew the Americans as enemies," he said.

Last May, Parliament voted 149–145 in favour of a nonbinding Conservative motion to extend Canada's military mission in Afghanistan until 2009. Harper told Parliament at the time that even if the motion was defeated, he would have extended the mission by one year.

"It wasn't a legally binding vote," Byers said, "but to continue a dangerous mission in the face of majority opposition in the House would have been an extremely audacious thing for him [Harper] to do."

Then–acting Liberal leader Bill Graham and then–Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff voted in favour of the Conservative motion.

Steven Staples, director of the Ottawa-based Rideau Institute on International Affairs, told the Straight that he thinks Canada is losing the war in Afghanistan but this isn't being widely reported in Canadian media. "Many of the assessments that are being made by the United Nations and by the International Crisis Group are generally pessimistic about the future of the country and the mission there," Staples said. "The view that we get in Canada seems to be much rosier."

He noted that each year there are more roadside bombs and more suicide attacks on Canadian forces. Last year, 37 Canadians died in Afghanistan, and another nine (including the two cited in the CTV report) have died this year. Staples said that Canada will spend more than $1 billion this year on the Afghanistan mission.