[R-G] It’s Time to Promote Peace in Afghanistan

[Anthony Fenton]

It’s Time to Promote Peace in Afghanistan
by John W. Warnock
Global Research, March 30, 2008
actupinsask.org

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8488

In Canada the debate on Afghanistan has had a very narrow focus. The  
primary concern has been the role of the Canadian Forces in the  
counter-insurgency war. How many more Canadians will be killed? How  
long will our forces be in Kandahar province? What will the U.S.  
government think if Canada withdraws from the southern zone of  
conflict? If Canada pulls its forces out of Afghanistan, will there be  
chaos?

It is time for Canadians to consider what the Afghan people want. At  
the top of the list would certainly be an end to the death,  
destruction and despair, the other 3-D policy. A variety of surveys  
show at least 70% of Afghans do not want to see a return of the  
dreaded Taliban. Yet an even larger percentage supports a negotiated  
settlement with the Taliban to end the war. The U.S.-NATO policy,  
supported by recent Canadian governments, perpetuates the war.

Outside of Canada there is widespread understanding that the counter  
insurgency war is not working. This past year was the most destructive  
since the U.S. invasion, with at least 6200 Afghans killed, a 24%  
increase in roadside bombs, and a dramatic increase in suicide bombs.  
The United Nations, as well as U.S. and U.K. military leaders, report  
that the zone of operation of the insurgents is spreading. Attacks are  
now up to 550 per month.

There is an opportunity for a new approach to the Afghanistan problem.  
The NATO countries will be meeting in Bucharest, Romania from April 2  
to 4, and the key issue on the agenda is the war. For the first time  
in history Russia has been invited to attend. Russia will be  
representing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the  
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The Russians and their  
allies in the two organizations are proposing a joint NATO-CSTO  
agreement for the settlement of the Afghan conflict. This proposal  
appears to have the support of the governments of France and Germany  
and several other European NATO countries. The new governments in  
Pakistan are supporting a negotiated settlement to the Afghan war.  
This is an opportunity for the  Canadian government to take the  
initiative and promote this new peace initiative.

This is not a new development. The annual meeting of the SCO at  
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in August 2007 focused on Afghanistan. The  
organization declared that they are willing to participate in the  
resolution of the problems in Afghanistan and improve the work of the  
SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group. The SCO was jointly created with China  
and includes several countries which border on Afghanistan. Iran,  
Pakistan and Turkmenistan have applied for membership. The SCO has  
expressed concern about the spread of Islamic fundamentalism in the  
region and the expansion of the drug industry and trade. They have  
offered to provide political, military and economic assistance to  
Afghanistan. The government of Hamid Karzai, which has official  
observer status at the SCO, is supportive of such a development.

The Russian and Chinese governments believe that the United Nations  
should be taking the lead in reaching a consensus position and finding  
a political solution. They argue that the expansion of the resistance  
in Afghanistan is due to the fact that the counterinsurgency war and  
the development strategy have been directed by the U.S. government  
with the support of its NATO allies. A successful settlement of the  
conflict has to be a U.N.-supported regional agreement.

This is not out of the question. It brings to mind the Six-Plus-Two  
negotiations held in Berlin between March and July 2001 where the  
United States and Russia, and the six countries bordering on  
Afghanistan, held negotiations, sponsored by the United Nations. The  
goal was to get the Taliban government to agree to a broad government  
of national unity. If this was achieved, the countries involved  
pledged economic assistance. The main goal of the Bush Administration  
at the time was to provide a stable Afghan government which would  
permit the building of the oil and gas pipelines from Turkmenistan to  
the Arabian Sea.

Since September 14, 2001 Canadian policy on Afghanistan has been to  
always support U.S. policy. Now is the time for our government to  
stand up and take a lead in peacemaking. It is time to back the people  
of Afghanistan who want an end to this war. Canada’s reputation around  
the world is not our ability to fight with the United States in  
counterinsurgency wars. We are known for peacemaking and peacekeeping.  
Let us cash in on that reputation.

John W. Warnock is author of Creating a Failed State: the U.S. and  
Canada in Afghanistan, to be published by Fernwood Publishing in May  
2008.

  Global Research Articles by John W. Warnock