Senate report: Canadian military should be open to talking with the Taliban

There is no mention of clearing talks with the Taliban with the Karzai government. There is the same type of arrogance in this report that one finds constantly in U.S. thinking. Note that we are not to be out of Afghanistan in 3 years. We will be there supporting our troops and sending home bodies for a much longer period. It is NATO that decides to deploy more troops there is not even a mention of the Karzai government or what it might want. Maybe Karzai will come to a deal with the Taliban first and kick us out before more troops are sent or we stay in Afghanistan indefinitely, all in the interests of creating a successful U.S. puppet state. The new president of Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad is already being groomed to replace Karzai.

Canadian military should be open to talking with Taliban: report
Last Updated: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 11:13 AM ET
CBC News
Canada will have to extend its military mission in Afghanistan past 2011, must deploy 4,000 more troops to Kandahar and should be open to talking to the Taliban, a Senate defence committee says.
"I don't think there's any chance of being out of there in three years," said Liberal Senator Colin Kenny, chair of the committee on national security and defence. "It's a longer project, and I think as people come to grips with that more and more, they'll come to realize that."
Kenny made the comments as his committee released its report on the mission Wednesday. Titled How Are We Doing in Afghanistan?, the report said while considerable progress has been made, more needs to be done to provide stability to the troubled region.
Among the recommendations, the report says Canadian soldiers and government officials operating in Kandahar should talk to members of the Taliban if they believe communication would encourage disarmament or improve the security of development projects.
The report questions whether the government policy of not talking to the Taliban is effective.
"Drawing lines in the sand is one of these child-rearing mechanisms that doesn't always work in the adult world of conflict resolution," the report states.
"Every effort needs to made to win over moderate Taliban supporters who are looking for evidence that there are better options than continued insurgency."
The report notes that Taliban leaders have rejected conciliatory gestures from the Afghan government, but "that doesn't mean there isn't any hope along these lines."
The report also says Ottawa should pressure its NATO allies to deploy 4,000 additional troops to Kandahar province. Kenny said the 1,000 extra troops called for in an earlier review of the mission headed by former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley are insufficient.
"The Committee is perplexed that the Manley panel concluded that Canada only needs 1,000 additional troops to support our forces in Kandahar province," the report states. "We believe that Kandahar province needs at least 4,000 additional personnel to secure Kandahar province."
As well, the report urges the federal government to send 50 Mounties, 150 municipal and provincial police and up to 500 recently retired police officers from across Canada to Kandahar to train Afghan police.With files from the Canadian Press