Canada's Afghan Mission

What are we doing in Afghanistan? That seems to be the question on a lot of Canadian minds. They don't want our help and it's not our fight anyway. We're only there to protect western political interests, not because we really care about the future of Afghanistan. These cynical views are easy to accept as gospel, but this would be a mistake. We are in Afghanistan because it's the right thing to do! This country had become an epicenter for destabilizing influences in the world. The bottom line is the Taliban regime was allowing terrorists to operate from their territory. This is not acceptable and all such regimes should be forced from power. Does the rest of the world have to accept the western model? No, but they have to realize that today's world is integrated at such a level that we can not ignore dangerous and rogue states.

Canada has a history of defending the principles of freedom stretching back to 1914. The Afghanistan mission is an extension of this continuing legacy. Make no mistake, organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaida do not accept compromise. They are not seeking peaceful coexistence with the West. They are seeking the destruction of our way of life. Let me be clear this is an extremist view - this is not a Muslim view. Many Muslims find what Osama Bin Laden stands for as distasteful as anyone else in the west. I am not suggesting we remain in Afghanistan in perpetuity, but we need to stay until there is a stable regime in place that is equipped to deal a death blow to these dark forces within their land.