Buckdog

Given the article, it sounds to me like the Conservatives are laying the groundwork for an eventual withdrawal, which they'll carry out under the guise of "Afghanification," or some similar buzzword. Then, when the Kabul government collapses (as it inevitably will), they can blame the Afghans for not committing sufficiently to the grand Western gift of democracy.

Agreed RevDave! (Glad to see your post on the phony 'Russian scare' that the Conservatives fabricated)!

"Coalition troops serving in Afghanistan will never rid the country of insurgents and won’t win the war simply by maintaining a presence in the area."
I take this to mean that coalition forces must do more than simply maintain a presence in the area, not that it is completely unwinnable. If the goal was to conquer and annex Afghanistan, different story, but defeating the Taliban, many of whom are not native Afghans, is still possible as the majority of the Afghan people do not support the Taliban.

While I'll never condemn anyone for advocating peace, I will point out that reasonable, rational negotiated peace is only possible with reasonable, rational people. The Taliban, who through acid in the faces of young girls who simple want to go to school, are neither reasonable nor are they rational.

I would also like to point out that almost every war Canada has ever been in has been called "unwinnable", including WWI and WWII.

Again, peace is always the preferred solution, I just don't see how it is attainable without the military in this case.

"I would also like to point out that almost every war Canada has ever been in has been called "unwinnable", including WWI and WWII." - To compare the war in Afghanistan to WW1 or WW2 is ridiculous. If you want to compare the current conflict in Afghansitan to a comparable war, you have to look at the American defeat in Vietnam or the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan in the 1980's.

Only a fool cannot see the difference between an guerrilla conflict and a conventional conflict. During insurgent conflicts like Vietnam, the North Vietnamese defeated the most powerful military and industrial nation on the planet. You are comparing apples to oranges.

Your comment about the Taliban, "The Taliban, who through acid in the faces of young girls who simple want to go to school, are neither reasonable nor are they rational" demonstrates that your emotions are ruling your opinions here and not your intellect. Yes, the Taliban have done deplorable things. We have only opened fire on innocent civilians when they did not comply quickly enough with commands from our troops that they did not understand. A number of innocent civilians have been killed, unforturnately by our troops and we have won the hatred of many Afghanis.

The point of this post is to point out the hypocritical rhetoric that Harper has used in this tragic and unfortunate war.

"While I'll never condemn anyone for advocating peace, I will point out that reasonable, rational negotiated peace is only possible with reasonable, rational people."

Unless you're really suggesting that we should just go out and kill everyone that you identify as "Taliban," sooner or later we probably WILL reach a peace with these people. I would prefer that we begin working toward peace now, rather than in a few years, after we've bombed and killed a few thousand more civilians.