An Appeal to N.A.T.O. For a Thousand More Troops In Afghanistan

Today I was watching a report on the C.B.C. News network that I found really interesting. The report was on Canada's appeal to N.A.T.O. for a thousand troops that are needed for the current mission in Afghanistan. I found it interesting because Peter MacKay, Canada's Defence minister met with other N.A.T.O. defence ministers and he flat out said that there is a need for 1000 more troops in Afghanistan.

Now I know that this push at the meeting for N.A.T.O. defence ministers in Vilnius, Lithuania was part of a new plan the Conservatives tabled yesterday and is rumoured to bring another election with it if the government votes against it. This really is a motion that could break the current minority government in Canada. Mostly because at least once a week I hear something coming from the Liberal opposition that clearly states that they are not happy playing the role of the opposition. I don't know about the rest of Canada, but the current economic boom we have been enjoying is not entirely due to the rumours of a recession in the U.S., the minority government has reduced the Goods and Service Tax by two percent since taking office, as well as boosting the funding for our military. Granted some still consider our military to be a joke, but I have a really bad feeling that if the Liberals get back in, our defence forces will suffer greatly.

I know that our neighbour to the south has a very strong military force, but we still have to protect our sovereignty regardless of which country is on our borders. Not only will our defence forces suffer from a potential general election in which the Liberals could form a majority government, but from my perspective, I would actually be ashamed to be Canadian if the Liberals formed a majority government. The last time they had power, many funds were squandered while our military was using dangerous used goods to protect us. I can understand politicians making claims against each other slinging mud back and forth because that has been what I have seen from them, but there comes a time when the interest of the people need to be considered.

I personally support the mission in Afghanistan, mostly because I have a friend or two serving over there as well as a co-worker who hails from Afghanistan. I have heard a few horror stories from before the whole "War on Terror" began in Afghanistan and I believe that we are needed to help rebuild. I have also heard from various news programs that we are only keeping the Taliban at bay while the people of Afghanistan are rebuilding their country from the bottom up.

But I digress, back to the news story I started with. The fact that we are trying to take the lead on keeping troops in Afghanistan on a mission to help the efforts to rebuild is incredibly important. Democracy takes time to develop and not even the most powerful nations in the world can deny that. It is always disheartening to hear about our soldiers being wounded or killed in the line of duty, but in this imperfect world of ours it takes sacrifice to make changes. But what about the global image of Canada? We have been peace keepers for many years, we have helped bring peace to many different parts of the world and the mission in Afghanistan is just as important as any peace keeping mission in the past.

Now the story also includes some hope. France has heard our call for more troops in Afghanistan. Just how many troops is purely speculation and rumours, although the rumoured number is 700. There is also a chance that other nations could commit enough troops to fill the void. Now what does this mean for an average Canadian, well it could mean nothing or yet another trip to the polls to vote for another Prime Minister or the same one. As this is a developing story we will have to watch and wait. That's my opinion, what's yours?

Image source: Wiki Commons
News Story: France heeds Canada's call for more troops