HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
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[O, Canada, your day of glory has arrived. Pity us
all.]
The Globe and Mail
Editorial
To fight in Afghanistan
Tuesday, January 8, 2002 � Page A14
It would be an understatement to say Canada's role in
Afghanistan's post-Taliban future has been unclear.
However, after a blizzard of conflicting signals,
Defence Minister Art Eggleton has to some extent
spelled things out.
Chiefly evident is that this will not be peacekeeping
as usual, or even peacekeeping at all. Instead, the
750-member battle group preparing for its six-month
tour of duty will be braced for combat. It is a
laudable mission that deserves support. It will also
be filled with risk.
Since the first weeks of the crisis that erupted Sept.
11, it was apparent that any new Afghan government
would rely on an international stabilization force.
Given this country's expertise in peacekeeping, it was
also expected that Canadians would be part of that
force, which, led by Britain, will eventually comprise
4,500 soldiers drawn from 12 countries. When it
transpired last week that Canada would not be one of
those countries, cries rang out that we had been
excluded because our military capabilities fell short
of what was required.
Whatever the truth of that, there is no disputing that
a major challenge lies ahead for the two companies of
the 3rd Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian
Light Infantry, which along with a reconnaissance
squadron from Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal
Canadians) will soon be joining U.S. ground forces in
southern Afghanistan.
Canada already has five warships, two maritime patrol
planes, an Airbus transport plane and roughly 40
members of the elite JTF-2 commando force in and
around Afghanistan. Dispatching the infantry will
bring our total personnel to about 2,500. As with the
international peacekeepers based in Kabul, the
Canadians' duties will include guarding aid shipments,
clearing mines and safeguarding airports.
But in one key regard, the Canadian mission will go
far beyond those traditional functions. The job
description includes hunting down and destroying
pockets of Taliban and al-Qaeda resistance. No other
country has been asked to make such a commitment,
which will mark the first time Canadian ground troops
have girded for battle under direct U.S. authority.
(In the Korean War, the United Nations flag flew above
the anti-Communist alliance. In the Balkan conflicts,
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization provided the
umbrella.)
Some Canadians will balk at the notion of their
countrymen fighting, and possibly dying, under the
Stars and Stripes. But it is worth underlining that
the U.S. decision to attack Afghanistan and oust Osama
bin Laden and his Taliban protectors had the authority
of a UN Security Council resolution. Terror is a
global scourge, not a local one. For all the mistakes
of the U.S. air campaign, in which many innocent
Afghans have perished, there was no alternative to
mounting such an attack, and the mission has to be
completed.
Canada will have a hand in that task. We should be
proud of the soldiers who are finally getting ready to
ship out, after weeks of frustrated confusion. And we
should wish them a safe return.
__________________________________________________
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