Leaving Afghanistan

The Dutch are staying, so are the Australians and so are we.

The idea of Canada withdrawing its soldiers once their commitment is up in 2009 is becoming increasingly untenable. We won't leave, not because we want to stay, but because the consequences of our leaving are unthinkable. To leave, we would be abandoning our most important military alliance, the one we've been in for more than half a century.

But our troops are needed elsewhere and the need for them in other corners of the world is going to increase steadily. So, how then, do we get ourselves out of Afghanistan?

The first step is to acknowledge what our combat group is doing over there. It's there to provide security while the government gels up and a proper Afghan army and police service can be put in place.

The next step is to recognize why we've made virtually no progress despite the Taliban having been run out six years ago. We've been waging war on the cheap. NATO and the US combined have just a fraction of the number of troops in Afghanistan needed for this sort of warfare. We're lucky to have done as well as we have. And our middling military effort has been the best of the whole show. Our attempts to create a viable (as in representative, democratic, unified and non-corrupt) government have been a flop. Our efforts at reconstruction have been a flop. The country remains in the choke hold of the warlords and druglords, both within and outside of the government. Meaningful and effective reconstruction requires adequate security and that can't be delivered until our side, not the Taliban, occupies the countryside.

So, just what can we do? Keep treading water - for a while and use whatever time remains to us to actually change the status quo. How to change the status quo? Train an effective Afghan infantry force, using a model already well known to Canada. Train them here - 1,000-1,200 at a time. Three months basic, three months infantry school, a couple of months specialty training and - then home - fully trained, fully equipped and ready to become an operational battalion under NATO direction initially. Train officers, train ranks and train trainers. By the time we have gotten four to six courses trained and returned to Afghanistan, there ought to be the basis for a cohesive, effective and nationalist army willing to serve its country.

There are plenty of NATO members reluctant to pull their weight in Afghanistan. They should pick up the tab for the training operation in Canada.

Once we have four battalions up and running in Afghanistan, twice our current troop level, we can pull our soldiers out and have them available to deploy in other places where they may actually do more good.

Why train them in Canada? To get them out from under the thumbs of the corrupt politicians and warlords in their homeland, at least long enough to allow them to be formed into something better than a uniformed militia for one of the several ethnic groups in Afghanistan.

Is that enough? Yes, it is. What are the options? Stay the course? Oh yes, that's working really well, isn't it? Defeat the Taliban? Sure, just increase force levels tenfold. For Canada that means creating the same mini-army we mustered for Korea except it would also mean keeping them in place over there for two decades more at least.

Mobilizing our resources to train an Afghan army is the best way out. It may be our only hope of leaving Afghanistan.