peteeey said:
The truth hurts, eh?
No foreign troops belong in Afghanistan.
Canada can make better use of its troops elsewhere.
And where would propose to send our troops where they wouldn't be "foreign"?
What "better" use would you propose?
The Taliban will not go away because we ignore it... and historically, when we left the taliban alone the taliban, or more accurately the people they supported and sheltered, did not leave "us" in the west alone ... even assuming that your implication that afghanis are incapable of anything other than continuous fratricide and don't deserve help to achieve something more is correct.
Our troops are volunteers. They aren't stupid. They know there is a price to paid and that they will pay the worst of it. Is a (relatively) peaceful and stable Afghanistan - as has existed in the past - worth that price? I think so and I think most Canadians would agree.
Can we acheive that goal? Yes ... but one of the big factors involved in that yes is American policy, which is beyond our control, and which most Canadians do not trust.
The question is do we commit to Afghanistan in hopes we can do enough good to outweigh the costs or do we abandon the Afghani's to chaos because we don't trust the Americans?
For me, so far, the answer to that question is that we should try and do the right thing even if in the end it comes to nothing... because it is the right thing and because it is important to try ... and because however dubious I am of the powers that be south of the border I have been greatly impressed by the afghan people, so that while I have my doubts, I still have hope.