If the Canadians have a role to play in Afghanistan, then so be it
Editorial

We concede that it's very easy to sit back and abstractly comment on whether Canadian military personnel should be deployed in a place like Afghanistan, or whether that mission should continue.

It's even easier when one doesn't have a loved one on the ground in a place like Kandahar, constantly living in harm's way.

But it would also be very easy to sit back and say Canada should not be involved in this operation at all, and advocate pulling our troops out of there, letting someone else worry about what goes on in that country so far away from our shores.

We would, however, argue that such sentiments would have made a lot more sense had they been expressed Sept. 10, 2001, or prior to that.

Thoughts like the ones we have outlined are sure to be raised as people react to last week's report from the independent panel on Canada's future role in Afghanistan, chaired by former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley.

The report recommended that Canadians continue their participation in Afghanistan beyond February 2009, when the country's current commitment is due to expire. But it also said that Canadians should concentrate more on training local forces, and having other allied countries carry a greater burden in the combat part of the operation.

Many Canadians have died because of this operation, and many more have been seriously injured. We submit that very few Canadians could think about that reality without feeling a deep sense of sorrow.

But it is true that we have a military for a reason; a reason that is dictated by geo-political realities.

As the panel's report reminded us, earlier in this decade, Afghanistan was in large part ruled by the Taliban, which offered shelter to Al Qaeda. And it was from Afghanistan that Al Qaeda leaders planned and directed the massive terrorist attacks on the United States Sept. 11, 2001. That was not only an outrage against our American neighbours, but against every civilized country, government, regime and individual in the world. Since that terrible day, there have been terrorist attacks against other countries, like Spain and Britain. And Canadians have no business even briefly believing that we are somehow immune to such actions.

That is why it would be inappropriate for our military people to just pack up and go home.

Let us also not forget that Canadians are taking part in an operation that has been sanctioned by the United Nations, led by NATO and approved by Afghanistan's own elected government. This is not a case of Canadians being pushy, but rather a case of Canadians responding to a call.

Responding to such calls is part of the Canadian tradition.

And as Dufferin - Caledon MP David Tilson pointed out, we have international obligations.

"We made a commitment to support NATO," he said. "We're there because we're part of NATO."

There could be an argument that Canada is carrying more than its share of the combat weight. The panel's report did indicate that, and urged the government to get other allies to step up. We agree that Canada cannot and should not be expected to do the job on its own.

But there is a job to be done in Afghanistan, and until it's completed, Canada has its part to do.