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Afghanistan
Soldiers getting ahead of civilians in promoting Afghan-Taliban talks: MacKay
2008-05-03
Members of the Canadian military who have been encouraging low-and mid-level Taliban to talk with Afghan authorities were out of line, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Friday. He suggested recent overtures by soldiers on the ground to foment dialogue are a step ahead of an international working group that's trying to hammer together a united front against the deadly insurgency.
The diplomats are out of line every time they provide artillery support, too.
The Globe and Mail quoted Lt.-Col. Gordon Corbould, the new battle group commander, and Sgt. Tim Seeley, a civilian-military co-operation officer for Canada's Provincial Reconstruction Team, on Thursday as saying that channels were being opened to moderate Taliban. Other officials in Kandahar, who spoke privately, backed up the military's assessment calling it creative thinking.

But they were sternly corrected by the minister. "They certainly don't speak for the government of Canada," MacKay said in a telephone interview from Halifax. The Department of National Defence "doesn't make policy," he said, "only the government does that."

MacKay repeated the hardline stand by the Conservatives that Canada does not negotiate directly with terrorists.
That'd be people who're likely to explode around non-combatants.
The idea that Canadian soldiers would be stepping up with Afghans to encourage militants in the war-ravaged province to lay down their weapons and talk has won high praise in Kandahar City.

Powerbrokers such as Ahmed Wali Karzai, the younger half brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, say it's just the kind of push that's need to stem the tide of violence. Tribal leaders in the hotly contested Panjwaii district, where much Canadian blood has been shed, are also happy with the thought. But MacKay said reconciliation isn't something that Canadians can make happen for the Afghans. It's an "initiative that must be led by them" and that Ottawa is content to support Karzai's peace overtures, but "at a distance."
Posted by:Fred

#2  Remember that in Afghanistan, money doesn't talk, it screams. The Taliban has been reduced to what is left of its leadership and hired Pushtun mercenaries. But if you offer these mercenaries even a modestly better deal than the Taliban can, they will turn their guns around.

This is very obvious to military personnel, but goes right over the head of diplomats, who assume that people only fight for something because they care about it.

To be in charge in Afghanistan is first to prove that you are the biggest and meanest dog around second, that you get what you want; and third, that you share some of the loot, because you are the employer.

It is very hard to get people out of a pattern like this, as it is very free market oriented.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2008-05-03 09:41  

#1  Stupid field officers buying into "Hudna", it seems. Good to see MacKay isn't buying that shiite. The idea of Afghans laying down arms is more ridiculous than the US stripping the 2nd amendment, wholesale.
Posted by: Vanc   2008-05-03 04:39  

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