Where Is Canada's Government in Afghanistan?
This article is very revealing about what is actually going on in Afghanistan - still - and it strikes me that while Canadian soldiers are being killed by roadside bombs and vehicle rollovers and friendly fire, the New Conservative Government of Canada should be doing more - or something, anything - on the diplomatic front to put pressure on Hamid Karzai (who is, afterall, a Bush Inc. appointee to the top job in Afghanistan) to do something, himself, about bringing freedom to Afghanistan:
JournalistJailedInAfghanistanJustLikeHeWouldHaveBeenInSudan
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Dozens of Afghan journalists and activists on Saturday sought the release of a journalist detained by security officials for allegedly making blasphemous comments.
It is exactly because of situations like this that New Conservatives need to have their feet held to the fire regarding the very unCanadian propaganda campaign they've been busily and wastefully waging here on the domestic front (with our money, of course) to trump up support for the War in Afghanistan.
Because as far as I can tell, the New Conservative Government of Canada is all about the War here at home and not concerning itself at all about the War in Afghanistan - most particularly in areas where it should be making a diplomatic effort to bring actual freedom to real individuals.
Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh should be the focal point of our government's efforts in Afghanistan right now and it is very telling to me that he isn't. If Prime Minister Stephen Harper has much of a plan beyond upping the original Mission in Afghanistan to a War in Afghanistan, it doesn't seem very apparent. As a taxpayer, I'd like to know why he isn't putting maximum pressure on Hamid Karzai (one more time: who is, afterall, a Bush Inc. appointee to the top job in Afghanistan) to free this journalist.
Furthermore, if all the journalists who are jailed for offending extremist sensibilities are then exiled instead of freed unconditionally, then I'm not sure what our point is in thinking we've done anything to improve conditions in Afghanistan at all. And at this point, I think we should all expect some improvement for Afghans attempting to exercise freedom of speech. Otherwise, it's pretty clear that we're just taking power away from one group to give it to another without any assurance that group number two is any better than group number one.
Maybe instead of ribbons and stickers here at home, the New Conservative Government of Canada should do its job in Afghanistan. Otherwise, it would appear to me that the War in Afghanistan is just a pointless and tragic waste of life.
