Green Party on the Manley Report

This is from the Green Party Website.22.01.2008 As I recall the Manley report made continuation of any combat mission contingent upon more contribution of troops from other NATO countries and also improved equipment and helicopter support. Of course no Muslim country is likely to volunteer more troops for the very reason that many of their citizens unlike Canadians see the whole Afghan occupation is part of an attempt to establish US hegemony in the area.
I am surprised that the Green Party did not demand that the opium be grown organically and with no GM poppy seeds.



Green Party rejects Manley Report conclusions
OTTAWA – The federal Green Party shares a vision of a stable and secure Afghanistan, but today challenged the newly-released Manley Report’s premise that Canada’s troops must remain in Khandahar beyond February of 2009 to achieve this objective.

“The Manley Report fails to consider that the recommendation of more ISAF forces from a Christian/Crusader heritage will continue to fuel an insurgency that has been framed as a ‘Jihad’. This, in turn, may feed the recruitment of suicide bombers and other insurgents,” said Green Party leader Elizabeth May. “Better human security is certainly needed in the South but it should be provided by a different cultural mix of UN countries as well as the Afghan army and police. Even if this proves challenging to accomplish, this key objective should have been included.”

The Green Party also questioned the Report’s recommended indefinite exit date for the Canadian Forces from Kandahar, citing concern that an open-ended departure date could significantly prolong the training time of the Afghan military and police. The continuous availability of external personnel and logistical support in a poor country like Afghanistan risks creating a structural disincentive to rapid military preparedness, especially in an ongoing conflict situation.

Green Party International Affairs critic Eric Walton also raised concern about the Report’s cursory reference to poppy plant cultivation, which helps fund the insurgency and worsens government corruption.

“It was critical that the Manley Report strongly advanced the Poppies For Medicine (P4M) program, but what we saw was little more than a lukewarm endorsement,” said Mr. Walton. “The Green Party would advance the P4M plan while strongly rejecting US proposals for widespread chemical spraying of poppy fields this spring. This pivotal choice could very soon determine the ultimate success or failure of the mission. It should also be a factor when determining if Canada stays in Afghanistan at all.”