"The Military Piece Is Over"

"If neglected, Afghanistan and Pakistan will become the world's problems in the years ahead.  With the nuclear weapons, the drugs and the terrorism, this region must not be abandoned.  You have to understand the consequences.  I think it's very important for the political leadership in countries like Canada to explain the importance of Afghanistan to their people.
"It's very easy to disengage now, and it's very easy to be insular and say your economy's not doing well, so we have to walk away from Afghanistan.  The last time the Americans walked away from Afghanistan, we saw 9/11."
Saad Mohseni, Middle East media mogul, Moby Group

"Afghanistan is very, very vulnerable.  If you in the West think, 'We helped them for eleven years, and they didn't help themselves, so now we will abandon them' - then we will collapse and the militants will come back."
Amrullah Saleh, former Afghan government intelligence chief

These two men, passionate spokesmen for Afghanistan's needs, were attending the Halifax International Security Forum, held as an annual conference to discuss global security issues.  The forum was hosted by Canada's Minister of Defence Peter MacKay.  Under Mr. MacKay's direction Canada ended its military mission in Afghanistan, pulling out its troops and equipment, after five years in a combat mission in Kandahar Province.

It was a mission that cost Canada dearly, and by the time Canada pulled out its military personnel in 2011 it had spent over ten years in the country with NATO and ISAF, costing the country billions in treasury and the deaths of 158 military personnel, one foreign affairs officer and four Canadian civilians.  Fewer than one thousand members of Canada's military remain in Afghanistan, helping the Afghan National Police and Army to train and professionalize recruits and medical personnel.

Canada, like other countries that had volunteered to help Afghanistan dig itself out of its medieval mire of backwardness and conflict, does indeed feel it is time for the country to look after itself.  The international community has pledged billions of dollars in aid to help Afghanistan help itself to become a decently functioning country answering to the needs of its citizens and capable of assuming its own security, like all other countries.

It is true that both Afghanistan and its neighbour Pakistan, which has historically and continues to conspire against it, both represent direly dysfunctional nations.  It most certainly is a fact that Pakistan's nuclear facilities and stored munitions are a huge concern to the international community, particularly due to the destabilizing effect of its radical Islamist groups and tribal Taliban who threaten to overwhelm the capability of the government to defend the country against viral jihad.

But neither Canada nor other countries can forever be held hostage to the needs of countries which have traditionally been mired in corruption and tribal and religious antipathies resulting in deadly violent clashes leading to widespread chaos.  The irony being, of course, that both Pakistan and Afghanistan each hugely resent the incursion into their sovereign territory of foreign troops, for any reason, including that of aiding the country's own government and military.

It has been stated repeatedly by Canada and by other countries committed to the independent control of Afghanistan by Afghans that there is no intention to remain in any capacity after 2014.  It is just as true that all these countries foreign to Afghanistan and with whom the country has an obvious love/hate relationship of dependency and resentment, have their own, internal problems to solve. NGOs offering humanitarian aid will continue to be a significant presence in the country.

"Unfortunately the Taliban and their supporters have counted from the beginning, that sooner or later the international community will run out of patience and they will leave, and that is why they are preparing for that day", stated Abdul Rahim Wardak, a former Afghan defence minister, currently advising President Hamid Karzai.  Emphasizing that his country "needs a lot of resources and patience on the part of the international community".

Afghanistan is gearing up for another parliamentary election, with expectations that this one will be conducted in a more honest, less corrupt fashion than the one that preceded it.  Afghan society is well and truly fed up with the endemic corruption at all levels of society, of government, of security that prevails.  "How much leverage can the West bring to bear, to make sure those elections are free and fair", rhetorically stated Pakistani journalist and Afghan observer Ahmed Rashid.

"The last elections were rigged openly by Karzai.  If the next elections are rigged, Afghanistan will fall apart, and we'll face a multi-dimensional war there like we've never seen before."  To which, in part, Defence Minister MacKay responded: "We will, I believe, be working with Afghans for many, many years to come on many levels.  But the military piece is over."

"I saw firsthand the incredible efforts being made by Canadians and our allies to present the Afghan army and police with the skills they need to go out and defend their country.  We're under no illusion as to the enormity of the task, but they are now a very capable force", emphasized Canada's Minister of Defence.

And it is time, and past time that Afghanistan get itself together, learn to govern itself responsibly, commit to defending itself against the disorder, violence and human-rights abuses that always seem to hover on its horizon.  Instead of urging ongoing commitment from foreign sources, the country needs to devote itself to its own salvation. 

It will have no other option after 2014.