Hon. Hugh Segal's Statement on Afghanstan

A very positive statement from a Canadian Senator, the Hon. Hugh Segal, on Canada's role in Afghanistan:

    Hon. Hugh Segal: Honourable senators, I am rising to express my profound appreciation to the members of the House of Commons' Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan, who visited Afghanistan recently and returned late last week. They did so to make their own assessment of the situation on the ground and to see first-hand the remarkable work being done by Canadian Forces and humanitarian, development and diplomatic personnel.

    Members of Parliament Kevin Sorenson, Byron Wilfert, Jim Abbott, Claude Bachand, Bob Dechert, Jack Harris, Laurie Hawn, Deepak Obhrai, Bob Rae and Pascal-Pierre Paillé, who made the trip, deserve our appreciation and gratitude, as do those who facilitated their movements on both the military and civilian sides.

    When I rose in this place on March 30 to express hope that there would be a full parliamentary debate on next steps in Afghanistan after 2011 and my strong view that, whatever the configuration of the post-2011 Canadian contingent, Canadian Armed Forces be part of that presence, I was hopeful that our colleagues in the other place would have a chance to see the context for themselves.

    There is now an opportunity for a full parliamentary debate in both chambers — not a narrow partisan debate, but a broad, multi-partisan, national interest debate — where proposals for the mix of forces and civilians deployed to Afghanistan can be openly and frankly discussed.

    Canadian Forces were involved in the earliest assaults on Taliban strongholds. Canadians helped to stabilize Kabul to allow the formation of the first Afghan government, the democratic process and subsequent elections. Canadian Forces were then deployed to Kandahar province, the most violent and difficult of areas, to hold the line almost alone and contain the insurgency so people in other parts of Afghanistan could get on with their lives.

    None of us can know what the final phase in Afghanistan will bring in terms of a constructive framework for stability and self-government, but it is clear that Canadian military experience, perspective, local sensitivity and highly-trained capacities need to be a vital part of that final phase.

H/T to the Canada-Afghanistan Blog and the MilNews blog.