Why is Canada in Afgnanastan?

[FartinMowler]

Canada has made a clear commitment to stabilizing Afghanistan and contributing to the creation of a more secure environment within which the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the country can take place. Canada's work in southern Afghanistan will build on a "whole-of-government approach." This includes the deployment of a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), and of a Canadian contingent of some 2300 troops to southern Afghanistan, where Canada has assumed command of the multinational brigade headquarters.

Can someone tell me why we would want to help Afghanastan? I was watching the news and two more Canadians were killed there.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Because it's the right thing to do?

Anybody?

[FartinMowler]

Because it's the right thing to do?

2300 troops :/ sorry 2298 in a terrain that you can't find Osama in...

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Canada has actually been more dedicated to training and building infrastructure over there than we've been (we have improved, but Afghanistan fell off our priority list for a while).

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I believe the Canadian presence there was always geared towards support and infrastructure as opposed to hunting down Bin Laden.

[FartinMowler]

Canada will spend $616 million in Afghanistan in the eight years ending in 2009, said Bob Johnston, a senior official at the Canadian International Development Agency.

Before 2001, Canadian assistance was about $10 million a year, CIDA's website says. About $100 million has been allocated for the year ending in March.

CIDA's work is aimed at helping improve the government, Johnston told a media briefing in Ottawa on Thursday.

It's funding work that includes removing mines, helping facilitate elections, destroying heavy weapons, and improving the lives of rural dwellers through financial programs, particularly ones that target women.

The U.S. and Britain recently promised to support Afghanistan with $2 billion.

$616 MILLION DOLLARS to rebuild what? It's like saying you're going to rebuild Africa...Look what happened to Canadians in Africa and that should be justification to never go into Countries like this and expect that they appreciate your help, or are willing to help themselves.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

We spend $616 million in a few hours in Iraq, so don't go crazy with the figures on me.

I think we have seen promising signs in Afghanistan, and I think a lot of those people are grateful for the help they've received internationally. We should've invested a lot more in Afghanistan earlier, and smoked out the region that sits on Pakistan's border, well before we went into Iraq.

It didn't go that way, but to abandon Afghanistan now would be disasterous, as it was after the Soviets pulled out.