The Afghan detainee issue, while important, has hijacked Parliamentary attention. Parties are not taking clear positions on Canada’s future in Afghanistan for fear others may exploit defined positions for political gain and because of internal divisions.

The focus should be objectives that all can support. For one, Canada can help more with development of legal systems. Social, economic, political, public administration, education and commercial progress require a functional legal system that rejects arbitrary power, is based on the rule of law and that effectively and fairly balances diverse interests. Afghans must decide what they want and what they adopt must suit their conditions, but we can help them make good decisions based on our experiences. 

Security efforts must continue because Afghans want our help and because all development depends on them. We should continue with legal and other development because it is in our interest and because Afghan authorities and citizens want us to help. It is in our interest because we have invested blood and treasure there and because all states are impacted by problems that emanate from failed states including terrorism, public health and environmental threats, refugee flows, political instability (in a nuclear region), demands for aid and economic drag.

Afghan authorities want us to help so we can’t validly be accused of unlawful intervention, but the intervention issue must be addressed to confront those that accuse us of wrongful intervention. It must be argued that we have the right and responsibility to act.

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, one of the authors of the UN approved Responsibility to Protect Doctrine and an authority on state intervention and international humanitarian law, believes, unless he has changed, that others can’t stand by while governments kill or threaten the security, safety and survival of their own citizens. Sovereignty, according to RTP doctrine, is earned and if states do not protect or if they directly harm their own citizens then they surrender sovereign powers while the international community is vested with the right to intervene and protect people. Mr. Ignatieff and the government could do more to articulate and support these principles.

Arguments that sovereignty and state power are absolute always confront threshold issues. Power must have limits. The issue is where the thresholds are. World War II, Cambodia, the Balkans and Rwanda are examples that help us define extremes. We know we must act differently in the future in the face of such extremes. We must refine our judgments. We must also act when failing to act in advance can make it much more likely that we will face the extremes. We can’t wait until swords are drawn and thrust toward innocents. 

If we don’t act to cure failed states and to promote legal and other development then we are not living up to ideals we say we have. We can’t view human rights as something Canadians and a few other privileged souls have by the beneficence of history and the sacrifices of their forefathers. We must ensure those sacrifices benefit all persons and that means failed stated can’t stand. Beyond core rights issues, the war on poverty – that we support - requires that failed states be transformed and that governments and legal systems be able to build affluent and fair societies.

Canada must therefore not only help train Afghan soldiers, but also tens of thousands of lawyers, judges, business persons, paralegals and public administrators. We have the knowledge base and the firms, institutions, functioning systems and people that can help. It is time for innovative action and collaboration in Canada and Afghanistan. Nearby India and Pakistan, countries with legal systems like our own, can help. 

Canada’s legal system is far from perfect, continues to evolve and faces challenges, but we must share our experiences, views, beliefs, principles, values, knowledge, skills, goals, objectives and functioning systems to help Afghans understand, appreciate and build a system based on fundamental and civil rights and the rule of law. We can do that while humbly admitting that we have not always lived up to our ideals and not yet achieved all of our objectives. 

Sharia law should be respected, but it must adapt to modern realities. Radical interpretations must be cast aside just as we cast aside traditions over time when they did not fit with evolving values and needs.

The federal government must do more to support or initiate private and public programs involving Canada’s lawyers, judges, Law Societies, legal associations, law schools, public and private educational institutions and public administrators. They want to help. Leadership must come from the public and private sector, but because government to government contacts are crucial it is our federal government that has the greater onus, constitutional mandate and capacity to get things moving. 

John Boon is a practising Vancouver lawyer and a member of the Canada Afghanistan Solidarity Committee. 

A panel on May 20 in Regina will respond to the question: What Should Canada Do in Afghanistan Post-2011?

Location

Royal Saskatchewan Museum Theatre
2445 Albert Street 

Date and Time

Thursday, May 20
7-9 pm 

Panelists

HIS EXCELLENCY JAWED LUDIN was appointed Afghanistan's Ambassador to Canada in May,

2009, after serving as ambassador to the Nordic countries, based in Oslo. Prior to his diplomatic posts, Ambassador Ludin served as chief spokesperson for Afghan President Hamid Karzai between 2003 and

2005 chief of staff to the president from 2005 to 2007.

NAJIA HANEEFI is a founder of the Afghan Women’s Political Participation Committee and is the former head of Afghanistan’s largest women’s organization, the Afghan Women’s Education Centre (AWEC). Ms. Haneefi currently resides in Ottawa.

TERRY GLAVIN is an author of several books and a journalist whose writing from Afghanistan has appeared in newspapers and magazines as diverse as Democratiya, the National Post, the online daily The Tyee and Vancouver Review. He is a co-founder of the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee.

LAURYN OATES, a human rights and gender equity activist with CASC and Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WA).

RSVP and media inquiries:

info@afghanistan-canada-solidarity.org

Refreshments served.

A Panel in Winnipeg next week will respond to the Question: What Should Canada Do in Afghanistan Post-2011?

Date & Time:
Tuesday, May 18th
Time: 7-9pm

Location
University of Winnipeg Global College (Convocation Hall)
515 Portage Ave
Winnipeg, MB

Panelists
ERSHAD AHMADI, Deputy Chief of the Afghanistan Mission to Canada

LAURYN OATES, a human rights and gender equity activist with CASC and Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WA).

ANNE LONGSTON is an independent consultant working in the field of international education. She served in Kabul as the technical advisor to the Afghanistan Minister of Education.

LASHA TCHANTOURIDZE is a research associate in the Centre for Defence and Security Studies and an adjunct professor in the faculty of graduate studies at the University of Manitoba. He specializes in foreign policy, strategic studies, and politics of the former Soviet Union.

TERRY GLAVIN is an author of several books and a journalist whose writing from Afghanistan has appeared in newspapers and magazines as diverse as Democratiya, the National Post, the online daily The Tyee and Vancouver Review. He is a co-founder of the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee.

RSVP and media inquiries:
info@afghanistan-canada-solidarity.org 

Canadians have long accepted the decision made in the House of Commonsin 2008, which called for an end to Canada's combat mission in Kandahar, Afghanistan, by July of 2011. Knowing the closing date to anopen-ended United Nations mission certainly simplified things in the minds of many people in this country. The only problem with this idea,however, is that nothing about the mission itself has changed, and the challenges we face there continue to be far from simple.

It seems to me that Canadians only pay attention to two aspects of themission in Kandahar these days: how many soldiers have been killed in combat, or how many days remain until Canada leaves. The problem withdwelling only in the past or the future is that it ignores the imperative of remaining focused on current mission objectives.

After the decision was made on a fixed exit date for Canadian Forcesin Kandahar, there has been a leadership vacuum on the mission that has required non-government organizations like the Canada-AfghanistanSolidarity Committee (CASC) to step in and advocate on behalf of the ongoing needs of Afghans.CASC has consulted within the Afghan-Canadian community, and broadly throughout the country of Afghanistan itself - including NGO's,agencies, former warlords, women's organizations, teachers, parliamentarians, journalists, and officials with NATO - in order tocome up with what we believe are Canada's remaining obligations.

An overwhelming majority of Afghans themselves have asked for ourcontinued assistance in developing their fledgling democracy, upholding the principles of equality and the rule of law, and thestruggle in providing a more representative and accountable government.CASC agrees that Canada's "battle group" can, and should, come home with honour, after a long and successful tour of duty. But thatdoesn't mean our soldiers can't play an effective and important mentoring role in the country beyond 2011.

The key to success in Afghanistan isn't necessarily victory throughtotal war, but has always been the sustainable creation of a stable and democratic government, and a strong Afghan National Army andpolice force who can provide security to the citizens of the nation.

We believe that Canada should maintain its proud leadership role withthe Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), including its polio eradication program, and engineering and construction projects. Suchhumanitarian causes are things the Canadian public can rally behind, and they also win us the admiration and respect of the local populace.

Even though our soldiers leave the field of combat, Canada's supportfor the ISAF mission should be unwavering and uncompromising, particularly on the issue of "reconciliation". The view of CASC isthat peace with the enemy should only be engaged with those whom accept the principles of human rights and the rule of law, thelegitimacy of the democratic Afghan government and the constitution, and the renunciation of violence against the Afghan people. Ofparticular importance is that the rights of women are not in any way, shape, or form to be compromised in suing for peace.

Canada's "new mission" should be to continue to support the Afghanpeople in their country-wide quest for the growth and development of a "democratic culture." The new mission must be to build upon the heavyinvestment that Canada has made in both money and lives in Afghanistan since 2002, with a sharper focus on the long-term results ofnation-building. We owe it to both Canadians and Afghans to see that the promises we made will be kept.

Contributed by CASC member Adrian MacNair, who blogs at Unambiguously Ambidextrous

A Panel in Montreal next week will respond to the Question: What Should Canada Do in Afghanistan Post-2011?

Date and Time

Monday, May 17 from 7-9pm

Location
Atwater Library
1200 avenue AtwaterWestmount, QC

Panelists

ERSHAD AHMADI, Deputy Chief of the Afghanistan Mission to Canada

LAURYN OATES, a human rights and gender equity activist with CASC and Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WA).

TERRY GLAVIN is an author of several books and a journalist whose writing from Afghanistan has appeared in newspapers and magazines as diverse as Democratiya, the National Post, the online daily The Tyee and Vancouver Review. He is a co-founder of the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee.

STEPHEN SAIDEMAN is Canada Research Chair in International Security and Ethnic Conflict

BERYL WAJSMAN is President of the Institute of Public Affairs of Montreal, editor-in-chief of the Suburban newspapers, publisher of The Metropolitain (Moderator)

RSVP and media inquiries at info@afghanistan-canada-solidarity.org

A panel this Sunday in Halifax will respond to the Question: What Should Canada Do in Afghanistan Post-2011?

Date and Time

Sunday, May 16, 2010
7-10 pm

Location

Maritime Conservatory
6199 Chebucto Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Panelists

NAJIA HANEEFI is a founder of the Afghan Women’s Political Participation Committee and is the former head of Afghanistan’s largest women’s organization, the Afghan Women’s Education Centre (AWEC). Ms. Haneefi currently resides in Ottawa.

TERRY GLAVIN is an author of several books and a journalist whose writing from Afghanistan has appeared in newspapers and magazines as diverse as Democratiya, the National Post, the online daily The Tyee and Vancouver Review. He is a co-founder of the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee.

LAURYN OATES, a human rights and gender equity activist with CASC and Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WA).

ANDREW BECKETT (Moderator). Resident, General Surgery Dalhousie University and Medical Officer, Canadian Armed Forces.

There is no cost for this event however as seating is limited, we do require advance RSVP via email atlantic@cw4wafghan.ca or message by phone 902-928-1133 (leave your phone number, name and number of seats to be held).

Media inquiries: info@afghanistan-canada-solidarity.org or call 604.230.2638