Canada defends policy on Afghan clans

This article makes clear that aid projects are not based upon local needs so much as the need to bribe people to support the Karzai government. The aid is a carrot and the special forces operations of Enduring Freedom are the stick.
The commentators here do not even comment on the killing of two mullahs or who might have done it. One person does mention that confidence that is built up in 100 days can be lost in an afternoon. He might have said in one raid and killings but he didnt. One wonders if the Canadians know what the special forces are doing and accept their roles. The Canadians are the good cops and the US special forces the bad cops.
In the light of this article it should hardly be surprising to anyone that the
Taliban will target aid workers since in these cases at least they are simply another form of battle against them. In the present situation it seems that aid is so integrated into the war against the Taliban and other opponents of Karzai that Canada should stay out period. We are simply being used as junior partners in US imperialism.

Canada defends policy on Afghan clans
GRAEME SMITH

From Friday's Globe and Mail

September 28, 2007 at 12:38 AM EDT

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canada will not immediately try to douse the anger that flared up this week in a village near Kandahar city after two religious teachers were killed in their homes, a military officer says, in a case that reveals the way Canadian forces are handling rebellious tribes.

The raid by foreign soldiers that left two mullahs dead on Wednesday was only the latest reason for upset in the village of Senjaray, a suburb of Kandahar city. Almost all of the people who protested in the hours afterward were members of the Alizai tribe, a group that often feels disenfranchised by the new government. They claim they're denied reconstruction projects and shut out of positions of influence in the local administration.

A Canadian official confirmed yesterday that some of the Alizais' complaints have a factual basis. Villages considered hostile to the government are shut out of assistance programs in the hope they will become more compliant, and that policy won't change just because the Alizais are shouting “death to Canada” in the streets, said Lieutenant Derrick Farnham, a civilian-military liaison officer at Canadian headquarters in Kandahar.

“We try very hard not to be reactionary, to go and quell anger and solve it immediately,” Lt. Farnham said. “That's something that has been done in the past, and it's been termed the ‘great game' in Afghanistan, where locals play one side off the other in terms of getting treats and gifts, and that's something we want to avoid.”
year'

The Canadian civilian-military co-operation unit, known as Cimic, is responsible for handing out valuable reconstruction contracts, and the bundles of cash often represent the first benefits of government control that villagers experience after the Taliban have been driven away.

The Cimic team has mapped the districts west of Kandahar according to their alignment with the government and concentrated on helping villages that seem most eager to co-operate, Lt. Farnham said, on the theory that disgruntled villages will envy the money dished out to their pro-government neighbours and try to emulate them.

This strategy of reinforcing good behaviour runs against the historical methods that foreign powers have used to subdue the restive tribes of Afghanistan, the lieutenant said. The British and the Soviets both tried to buy off their enemies, he said, but the benefits didn't last and both empires eventually failed to secure the country.

“We don't want to be in a situation where we're just seen as bribing people who have a grudge against us,” he said.

“When we make progress, it's sometimes described as glacial. It can't be fast, and it probably wouldn't be best to be fast. It has to be small steps that are steadily forward.” He acknowledged that the Canadian strategy might aggravate anti-government sentiment among some tribesmen, but added that it's impractical to launch projects in areas where they're not welcome.

“It may harden attitudes,” he said. “But we are not invited into many areas. We have tried to go into some areas, we have tried to do development there, but we're not wanted.” Besides projects, the Canadians can also help by listening to villagers' concerns, he added.

“Just giving them a forum can really count,” Lt. Farnham said, although he said he isn't aware of any plans to hold meetings with the people who protested this week.

The protests have set back Canadian attempts to build trust among the people who live near a strategic stretch of highway outside Kandahar city, another military official said.

“You can build it [confidence] for 100 days and in one afternoon you can lose it all,” he said.

New Feature: Recommend this article to other