So it seems Afghanistan is passing legislation severely limiting the rights of women and Canadian politicans are acting like they're going to try to do something to stop this through diplomacy and international relations.
But no matter how hard I think about that, I can't reconcile that with the fact that Canada has troops in Afghanistan. I can't think of any situation under which we'd have troops in their country AND they'd be passing domestic policy that we don't approve of AND we'd still have a say in their policy.
In what capacity, specifically, is our military there? Are we invited guests of their government? If so, it seems kind of rude and pushy to go around telling them how to legislate even if their legislation does suck. And if we're invited guests that would mean that our presence is a favour of some sort to them, so someone should at least be mentioning the possibility of withdrawing our troops as a protest against this legislation. Besides, if memory serves, our troops were in Afghanistan before this government was set up, so we can't really be their guests.
But if we aren't their guests, then we must be an occupying force. And an occupying force wouldn't install a government that would consider this kind of legislation.
I'll admit I never understood the basis for the Afghan mission very well. Back when it first started I scrunched up my brain really hard and tried to think about it, but I couldn't get it to make sense. Time has passed since then, and I've forgotten a lot of the details (it's difficult for me to retain details when I don't see the logic of the whole.) I have the idea that it has something to do with NATO, but that doesn't make sense since Afghanistan isn't part of NATO and NATO isn't quite for invading other countries.
So here's what I've got:
If Canada and Afghanistan had normal diplomatic relations and we were expressing discontent with their legislation through normal diplomatic channels, we wouldn't have military there.
If we were an invited guest of the country, we would at least be talking about withdrawing our troops in protest.
If we're an occupying force, we wouldn't have allowed such a governmentin the first place and the Canadian politicians wouldn't be protesting the legislation through political/international relations channels.
So on what basis and in what capacity are we there? What is the official relationship between the Canadian Forces and the Government of Afghanistan?
6 comments:
War never changes. The reasons are always the same. People die, people cry. Its a sad shame.
The situation in Afghanistan has been long standing. The Western forces aren't the first to attempt enforce change however they are the first to be making a difference in a region that has been long unstable. The thing that makes Afghanistan different to places like Dafur is that they supply the entire world with opium/herion. In fact, they supply more than two thirds of it. You couple that with an overly oppressive exetremly religious goverment and a breeding ground for terrorism and you have enough reason for occupying forces to enforce change, especially once they've attacked the mainland of the United States as they did back in 2001.
Australia has done this with East Timor after it was invaded by Indonesia. And there are plenty of examples in the past where Western forces have invaded to liberate and sometimes even install a government, for better or worse.
War never changes.
I think Canada is in Afghanistan to appease the US because Canada didn't go to Iraq. Canada is co-occupying power in Afghanistan.
especially once they've attacked the mainland of the United States as they did back in 2001
Huge factual error. Afghanistan did not attack the US, ever.
If we are the occupiers, we're doing it wrong. What's the point of being the occupiers if you can't prevent the local government from introducing legislation you find offensive?
I think Canada is an occupier who is not comfortable with the role - doesn't want to act like a true occupier or even admit to itself it is an occupying power.
So yes, I agree, it would mean Canada is doing it wrong. Better to not do it all.
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