The Harper Panel on Afghanistan

Hmmm..seems to me that Canada was in Afghanistan in the first place as part of the US led Operation Enduring Freedom. This was originally to be Operation Infinite Justice but not surprisingly some relgious people especially Muslims thought only Allah and not Bush could manufacture infinite justice-- so the phrase mongers changed
to the still full of hot air OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM.
The Taliban were overthrown ostensibly because of their harboring Bin Laden and the presence of Al Qaeda training camps. Even so the overthrow was obviously illegal as shown by legal writings on the matter...see for example Mandel. Anyway we were originally part of the US coalition bent on extending US global hegemony as junior partners a role that Harper will accept even more readily than the Liberals.
The US was able to enlist NATO to takeover parts of the mission as ISAF and Canada is now part of that. The UN has sanctioned ISAF but the UN never sanctioned the original overthrow of the Taliban, in which the Enduring Freedom gang helped out the warlords in the Northern Alliance who did most of the grunt work in ousting the Taliban. The Iraq occupation was also sanctioned by the UN after the fact! Does that make the Iraq war OK?
The democratically-elected government of Afghanistan was stage managed by the US and their chosen Karzai, who formerly used to funnel CIA funds from Pakistan to the jihadists who were carrying on a struggle against the Soviet supported Afghan government. Afghanistan is the biggest opium democracy in the world!
Anyway check out the panel website and send in your suggestions to them. I am sure they will consider them all carefully.


Terms of Reference
Canada is in Afghanistan at the request of the democratically elected Government of Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led, UN-sanctioned mission. The current mission in Afghanistan includes a significant military role in Kandahar province where Canada is involved in establishing the security necessary to allow development, strengthen and enhance governance capacity, and facilitate the delivery of programs and projects that support the economic recovery and rehabilitation of Afghanistan on a sustained basis.

Afghanistan will remain a key engagement for NATO, the United Nations, and a number of our key Allies for the foreseeable future. Indeed, the Afghanistan Compact, to which Canada is a signatory and key contributor along with 50 other countries and 10 international organizations, extends until 2011.