Michael Ignatieff’s recently-announced plans for Canada’s post-2011 role in Afghanistan coupled with the recent resignation (read “firing”) of General Stanley McChrystal as commander of the NATO security forces in that same country have brought the issue back to centre-stage both in Canada and in the US. Although Mr. Ignatieff provides a much needed vision for building a failed state from the ground up, General McChrystal’s recent comments that are the cause of his firing are much more revealing.
Here’s the main problem. Nearly nine years into the conflict, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) still lacks a coherent strategy for attaining NATO’s goals. President Obama may describe the recent appointment of General David Petraeus to lead the NATO forces in Afghanistan as a “change in personnel, but not a change in policy”, but the reality is that the policy is flawed.
The summer offensive in Kandahar by US-led forces has been delaying, leaving much pressure on Canada’s soldiers in Afghanistan’s south. Corruption and division are still rampant throughout the country, and stopping the Taliban insurgency has proved much more difficult than expected. Possibly worst of all, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has indicated that he is distancing himself from working with with the West in favour of negotiating with the Taliban and the Pakistani government.
No one wants another Vietnam. NATO forces can’t afford to stay in Afghanistan for over twenty years. If the current strategy centered around Kabul remains in place, we’ll be digging ourselves into a quagmire. This is especially the case, seeing as Western forces, for cultural and political reasons, are incapable of building an Afghan democracy and economy on their own.
Our most important goal between now and the summer of 2011 should be to lead a major eastward offensive against the Taliban to force them back over the border into Pakistan. After this point, border-control becomes the most critical of points, seeing as the last offensive only temporarily kept the Taliban out of Afghan territory. We need to be able to train Afghan forces to effectively secure the border with Pakistan on their own, since we know that for reasons of strategic depth, Pakistan won’t effectively curb the mobility or influence of radical groups such as the Taliban.
After the offensive, pull out and portray it as a victory. We have no choice. Canada has lost nearly 150 soldiers in this war and it can’t drag on for much longer. Furthermore, US-led operations in Somalia have proven that no matter how much funding and resources one pours into a failed state, instability is inevitable. Whether countries like Canada choose to maintain a small presence after the offensive in order to enhance education, living conditions and the training of armed-forces is up to them, and is certainly a worthwhile endeavour.
Over the years, Western-led initiatives have cleared the way for Iran to extend its influence in the region. Winning the Cold War removed pressure to Iran’s north. Invading Afghanistan removed pressure to its east, and Iraq to its west. We now remain paralyzed by the politics of a corrupt president in the form of Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan and an Iranian-backed prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki in Iraq, while Iran continues to inch toward obtaining nuclear weapons.
We have to do what we can, where we can. The economic and geopolitical interests of the democratic community are at risk if Iran’s radical regime obtains nuclear weapons. Dialogue with theocrats hasn’t and won’t work. Mutually assured destruction is not a deterrent but an incentive for mullahs who adhere to an eschatology-based ideology. If the democratic community doesn’t bring Iran’s nuclear program to a standstill through economic measures, and if the leader of the free world doesn’t abandon his fantasy of Israeli-Palestinian peace, we’re in for a rough ride.
Zach Paikin is a student at McGill University.
Zach you are right on. Let’s hope that someone in the U.S. government realizes what you have said is the only solution and acts on it otherwise as you said, we are all in for a really rough ride.