Afghanistan should not be coloured by our collective insecurity

Our relationship with America is a curious one. we seem to belittle the United States at every opportunity gleefully pointing out every misjudgment in US history while simultaneously craving US attention! Strangely, anti-American banter is ultra-trendy. Any contrary voice is quickly labeled 'conservative' and rejected. Labels are handy that way. We even have Canadian politicians pandering to trend by marching in the street under the flag of Hezzbollah!
Hezzbollah, a terrorist organization with a mission to destroy. It is essentially an ersatz element of Iranian aggression. Remember the emergence of Hamas? It was shortly after Israel had reached an understanding with the PLO. Following the recent progress between Israel and Hamas, Hezzbollah wades into the fray to ensure destabilization. There are elements in play that do not seek peace but the destruction of Israel and severe punishment for Western democracy. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomenei has called for the end of Israel. He has called for Islamic youth to engage in suicide attacks against all western entities. His speeches are nothing less than disturbing. This is the man who slected the candidates for the Iranian presidency. The reasonable and progressive Katami was removed from consideration leaving us with Amadinejad. We all heard his speach in New York. These are the people who support Hezzbollah to the tune of 65 million dollars per year.
Canada seems to be choosing a path of least resistance. The collective seems disinclined to be a nation that takes a stand. We seem more interested in being a nation that points fingers. As we speak, our most incredible citizens are half-way across the world making an actual difference. They are not sitting around a coffee shop with trendy others that "get it", talking about all that is wrong, they are out there, on the line, doing something about it. I have heard on more than one occasion "We shouldn't be imposing our will in Afghanistan." I saw a sign in a shop window that said "Bring our troops home, for a better world." How does abandoning a people and leaving them to the devices of an oppressive regime create a better world? I doubt the author of the sign considered Mullah Muhammad Omar.
For years Afghanistan suffered the whims of Omar and the Taliban. The only entity seeking to impose their will in Afghanistan are the Taliban. Some feel that the Taliban are fighting to resist American domination in the region. In truth, the Taliban are not a force of resistance, they are an offensive force that seeks to dominate and control. The Taliban seek to dominate just as they have since reducing Kabul and much of the country to rubble when assuming control in 1996. The Taliban imposed overwhelming restrictions on Afghan people. An Afghan citizen was detached from any sense of individual possibility by Taliban rule. The only possibility remaining to Afghan citizens was the certainty that any deviation from Taliban edict will lead to grave punishment carried out by masked men with guns.
The Taliban engaged in the ethnic cleansing of the Hazaras people. Public executions were the norm. Mulah Muhammad Omar used to actually spend time dreaming up exotic new methods of execution. This is how he entertained himself. He once devised an elaborate technique that included the construction of a large brick wall built for the single purpose of being pushed over onto a condemned prisoner. Education was strict and limited to males. Women were forced to stay indoors unless accompanied by a related male escort. Homes with women were commanded to paint all windows black so she would never be seen. Women had no rights under the Taliban.
In the late nineties, journalist Jan Goodwin reported first hand the oppressive conditions women were subject to under the Taliban. The Taliban minister of education told Goodwin "It's like having a flower or a rose. You water it and keep it at home for yourself, to look at it and smell it. It (a woman) is not supposed to be taken out of the house to be smelled". Afghan women referred to themselves as 'living dead'. Completely denied any access to basic human experience, suicide rates soared. While American Aid agencies actively lobbied against the restrictions placed upon women in Afghanistan, one UN official interviewed by Goodwin was quoted as saying "the gender issue is too dangerous, I don't plan to risk my career over it." The same reticent UN strategy that failed at Srebenica and in Rwanda. If Peace Keeping includes inaction in the face of genocide, what is it truly about? Peace Keeping has to be about more than wearing blue helmets on PR missions so we can all convince ourselves how great we are.
It is easy for one to say that if the citizens of Afghanistan were unhappy with their circumstances it is up to them to do something about it. It must be understood that these people were forced into subjugation. They were completely disconnected from any sense of their own possibility. The Taliban are ruthless and heavily armed. Consider this analogy, if you were held hostage in a bank robbery by armed gunmen, would you like the help of police or should they ignore the problem with the idea that if you were dissatisfied with being held hostage you will do something about it yourself.
At what point do we decide to take a stand? At what point do we respond? Dione, Layton and Duceppe are exquisite finger pointers but cannot answer these questions. They certainly have been asked. We have to open our minds and consider the entire picture. Who do we want to be? It's important to think about this.

"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
Plato