Getting to the Real Discussion

Our panels including Afghan Ambassador Jawed Ludin in Edmonton and Calgary last week on Canada's role in Afghanistan post-2011 seem to have sparked just the right response from concerned Canadians. As Deborah Alexander writes in the Calgary Herald, it's long past time to get beyond the detainees distraction and back to the central issue of what we're doing in Afghanistan beyond 2011. An excerpt:

Parliament has a Canada Afghanistan Committee whose job it is to formulate the post-2011 policy. Canadians need to contact their MPs and insist that the dialogue begin. The July 2011 date for the drawdown of Canadian Forces is looming. If the Canadian government does not continue to support training and development, the last eight-years of war and sacrifice will have been in vain. Many believe the Taliban will again take over, women will be forced back under the burka, and the two million girls now in school will once again not be allowed schooling or medical services.