afghanistan and iraq

canadians have a tendency to lump what's going on in iraq with what's going on in afghanistan. and on the surface they just look like yet two more examples of the united states acting with hubris and brutality -- throwing its weight around at the expense of an already beleaguered nation, but unlike many of my fellow countryfolk, i'm beginning to really see iraq and afghanistan as two separate quagmires. after talking with professors who specialise in the middle east, and with afghani businessmen, i feel fairly proud of canada's role there, and reasonably comfortable with someone trying to rid afghanistan of the taliban. it might be better PR if that someone were middle eastern, too, but my point is that the taliban are harmful, oppressive, fanatical loonies -- and if everyone backs out of afghanistan now, they will return and the country will become a living hell for 90% of its citizens.

let me be clear: i'm a pro-choice, homo-lovin' commie-pinko pacifist. i'm horrified by the industrial military machine, and even feel uncomfortable with my kid playing with water pistols. killing people is awful, but what's happening in afghanistan isn't simply an atrocity: good is being done on so many levels apart from the battles being waged. infrastructure is being rebuilt, women walk the streets, amazing initiatives are working to provide opium farmers with free fruit and nut trees to replace their poppies, water and juice plants are opening and, slowly, tangled property rights issues are being unraveled. it's all happening and it's good.

the biggest problem seems to be that afghanistan shouldn't really exist. like pakistan was artificially created by britain, afghanistan was set up more or less arbitrarily as a buffer between lucrative colonialist interests to the south, and russia. it contains about five very distinct ethno/cultural groups living in separate regions, and the challenge of finding a man who can inspire trust in such a diversely rooted place has so far proven impossible. eventually a leader will emerge, though, and this will do a great deal towards stabilising the country. in the meantime, the taliban mustn't be allowed to return. they simply mustn't -- as a human rights issue completely independent of this nonsensical so-called war on terror.

i felt compelled to write this because canadians have such a delicate sense of honour when it comes to peacekeeping, and i hate to hear afghanistan tossed into the same pot with the horrific disaster that is the situation in iraq. especially now that the CBC has, by association, created a tenuous connection in the minds of its listeners between the 17, uh, Gardening Enthusiasts recently arrested in toronto, and canada's involvement in afghanistan. we don't need to be there ourselves, but somebody should be.