Foreign Circumventions

No sooner did U.S. President Barack Obama exit Afghanistan after reading the riot act to Afghan President Hamiz Karzai than the revelations were made by an irate Karzai that it was really foreign elements that were to blame for the revealed widespread vote fraud that brought him back into office. "There was fraud in presidential and provincial council elections - no doubt that there was a very widespread fraud, very widespread", he averred heatedly.

"But Afghans did not do this fraud. The foreigners did this fraud", he assured his audience, thanking them for having operated "under extreme conditions." The fraud was led, according to Mr. Karzai, by the former UN deputy head of mission, American Peter Galbraith, who had leaked the extent of the fraud, accusing the UN head of mission of complicity, then was fired by the United Nations for his troubles.

Which was precisely the reason why Mr. Karzai sought to alter the country's laws to enable him to personally select election monitors for future elections; no foreign elements need apply, particularly those of the UN appointed to oversee the fairness of the procedure. This will endear the president further to the 126,000 NATO troops currently stationed in Afghanistan at his beseeching and the acquiescence of the United Nations, to ensure that he remains in control of the country.

While at the same time extending familial-neighbourly-religious diplomatic niceties to Iran's President Ahmadinejad whose assistance to the insurgents with Iranian-manufactured IED parts and rockets have helped to kill and maim those same foreign troops. And of course, overtures to the Taliban themselves, to enter the process and engage in a peace process that would lead, thanks to President Karzai's generosity of spirit, to shared administration of the country.

As one Canadian soldier declared in a poem he wrote before his death "I fight so my children will not have to", but that was just part of his very personal story of commitment. He died, and thus will father no children to inherit his genes; his sacrifice for Canada's commitment to NATO in the war against fascist-inspired Islamism was as great as any that could be made, defying nature's inbred survival mechanism.

President Karzai's own parliament rejected his amendments to outlaw non-Afghans from the UN-inspired election watchdog. For his part, he took steps to criticize the lawmakers who voted against his move to "Afghanize" the electoral process. Canada, among other countries, has been disappointed in the manner in which the elections took place. And disapproves to the nth-degree the rampant corruption in the country.

While taking pride in the accomplishments that its troops, NGOs and Canadian civilians have somehow managed, through all the uncertainty, chaos and conflict, to strive toward. From proper policing to economic management and civic infrastructure; from mentoring in the provision of health clinics and building schools, and humane prison conditions, much has been accomplished. Trouble is, it's one step forward, two steps backward in that country.

And in the near future Canada, as with other countries, including the United States, will be withdrawing its military presence, leaving in place a skeleton staff of diplomats, NGOs and civilian humanitarian volunteers. Who will require protection. Before they are asked to leave, after having accomplished some of what they set out to produce.

After which it is anyone's guess what will transpire.