This just came into my mailbox from the Canadian Peace Alliance. I couldn’t have put it better.
The US-led combat mission in Afghanistan is now over six years old, longer than World War Two. And sadly, there is now more instability and violence in Afghanistan than in 2001.
NATO forces continue to back a government dominated by warlords and drug lords. In 2007, NATO bombs killed over 6,500 people in Afghanistan the highest death toll since the war bega.
Stephen Harper’s government has been implicated in scandals involving the torture and abuse of Afghan detainees. Independent reports show that reconstruction has come to a virtual halt while hundreds of millions in aid money is unaccounted for.
Opium production in Afghanistan is at its highest levels ever, providing 93 per cent of the world market. Violence against Afghan women is still widespread, while their security deteriorates on a daily basis.
A clear majority of Canadians now oppose Canada’s mission in Afghanistan. Sixty-one per cent are against plans to extend the mission past February 2009.
But Stephen Harper is proposing to do just that: extend Canada’s mission in Afghanistan until 2011. Canadian troops have suffered one of the highest casualty and death rates of all NATO forces and thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed.
It’s time to stand up to Stephen Harper. We call on the Government of Canada to stand with the majority of Canadians and say no to extending the mission in Afghanistan.
Don’t extend it. End it.
Bring the troops home now.
Visit their website at www.endit.ca. They have put together a good package of materials you can use to take action to end Canada’s shameful role in this war.
Paul S. Graham 