LET THEM BE .... 14 March 2014 Canadian troops in Afghanistan have left behind a country with siege mentality .... KABUL—A map on the wall at the Gandamack Lodge, a well-worn Kabul haunt for western aid workers, officials and journalists, traces in meticulous detail the disastrous, bloody retreat of British troops from the Afghan capital in January 1842. It was an unmitigated rout. A British and Indian force of 4,300 troops was wiped out, except for an assistant surgeon who escaped and a handful of prisoners left in Afghan hands. The end of what history calls the First Afghan War came as the redcoats staged their last stand near a village called Gandamack. The disaster is still celebrated here and has become part of the cultural DNA of Afghans, particularly the ethnic Pashtun warrior class after whom today’s Taliban like to model themselves as they wage their ruthless, so-called holy war to expel the foreigners. Canadian training troops left this week with a formal lowering of the flag on Wednesday. They’ll be followed by the rest of NATO’s combat force at the end of the year. Today is not 1842, no matter how Taliban propaganda tries to spin it. Yet, the country which western troops are leaving has a siege mentality. Business in Kabul, both government and private, is conducted from behind blast barriers, razor wire and thick, steel doors. A trip to the Afghan capital’s main shopping centre finds mall cops in camouflage, armed with AK-47s and speaking to people through narrow slits in heavy steel guard posts. Anyone who wants in is patted down. Forget about taking photos inside. Even the grocery store, Spinneys Supermarket, is a bunker shielded behind three green, steel doors thick enough to withstand a hit from a rocket-propelled grenade. The bag boys pack assault rifles, as well as groceries. This is what the coming exodus looks like from the overcrowded streets of Kabul. What can be expected in the coming months and years in western capitals, including Ottawa, is a bout of brutal reflection. There are some, especially among western military leaders, who say there should be no rush to judgment and that any consideration of the value of the long mission needs careful analysis. Gen. Sir Nick Houghton, Britain’s chief of defence staff, said the original purpose of the military mission — to destroy Al Qaeda sanctuaries — was achieved. The ensuing nation-building exercise is still a work in progress. “We will have to judge it in the years to come,” he said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press. READ ON > thestar/news/canada/2014/03/14/canadian_troops_in_afghanistan_have_left_behind_a_country_with_siege_mentality.html
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 05:42:50 +0000
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