We don't have to train soldiers for the Afghan National Army in Afghanistan. It's safer, easier, and probably cheaper to train them right here in Canada. Look at it this way, if we can thoroughly train our own soldiers at Canadian bases for combat in Afghanistan, we can do precisely the same for Afghan recruits. The Canadian Forces have decades of highly successful experience training foreign soldiers in Canada. There's nothing new to this.
Why not run basic infantry, mechanized infantry, artillery and logistics training at a couple of our splendid Canadian facilities? Instead of pumping mountains of money on supporting a training operation in Afghanistan, let's invest that money in a training operation in our own country. Think of it as real stimulus spending.
Would you rather pay the cost of flying a couple of thousand Afghan recruits to and from Canada or fly hundreds of Canadian trainers into harm's way to train these same recruits in Afghanistan? They don't have to get their entire training in Canada but we can teach them most of what they'll need to know without Canadian instructors being exposed to IEDs, suicide bombers and Taliban ambushes.
Excellent idea!
ReplyDeleteA very good idea..but Harper likes war.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Canadian base security? We know about the attempt to blow up bases in Australia.
ReplyDeleteNot only base but general public could be in danger. How you distinguish a friend from a foe when you bring them here?
ReplyDeleteBase security? I think our armed forces are up to that challenge. We have plenty of bases where there's no place to run, no place to hide. As for the general public, most of our training bases are well removed from any population centres.
ReplyDeleteIf we can't distinguish friend from foe once they're here, will our odds improve over in Afghanistan? Then again, if we can't tell the two apart what are we doing training our mortal enemies at all?
That's one option. However, there are immigration issues. If we bring a regiment (or Kandak in Afghan terms) of infantry to Canada to train, how many do you think will claim refugee status? Maybe... all of them?
ReplyDeleteNot sure what sort of stimulus package you're thinking of. Afghan soldiers get paid about $100 / month. That's not a whole lot of spending money here. they'd likely save it to send back to their families.
I don't see an immigration problem. They come in as soldiers, not civilians, under Canadian command. The stimulus would come from the money that would flow into the Canadian economy from running the training operation in this country for everything that now costs us a fortune to have trucked in along dangerous roads from Pakistan.
ReplyDelete"Then again, if we can't tell the two apart what are we doing training our mortal enemies at all?" Exactly. And we have been doing that for few decades now.
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