Canada’s role in Afghanistan underestimated: ambassador
Speech at university met by protest
Andrew Sain Staff
Canada’s role in Afghanistan came under fire with a presentation from ambassador David Sproule last week. Sproule spoke on the roles that Canada’s military is currently playing in Afghanistan and the challenges that remain in establishing a democratic government.
A large crowd filled the seats and aisles to see the March 23 presentation, and a small demonstration was held in the hallway of University College before the speech began.
Sproule served as the Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh in 2004, and in October of 2005 he became Canada’s ambassador to Afghanistan. He has served in Singapore, Bangkok and Washington, as well as several divisions of the Department of External Affairs in Ottawa.
He identified a lack of physical security, a lack of institutional and human capacity and poverty as the outstanding struggles in Afghanistan today.
“The judicial system . . . is quite broken down and rudimentary and it lacks the capacity to support a modern economy,” he said. He explained that there is no framework for trade or private investment in the country, making the development of industry that much more difficult. “You can’t make any of those assumptions in Afghanistan,” he said.
Sproule also addressed the issue of the narcotics trade in the country.
“Estimates are that 60 per cent of the Afghanistan economy is based in one way or another on the narcotics trade. This dependency makes it very, very difficult to extricate Afghanistan from what could be a very insidious mix between the insurgents and the drug lords,” he said.
Sproule said that Canada is involved in providing alternative crop choices for farmers who are involved in growing poppies for use in the manufacture of narcotics.
He said that he feels that Canada’s presence is both necessary and beneficial to Afghanistan.
“Don’t underestimate the challenges that we face, and don’t underestimate the accomplishments that have been achieved already. In Afghanistan in the last four years, the per capita income has almost doubled. There is more security for the average Afghan than they have experienced in the last 25 years. Women have rights and a life that they never enjoyed under the Taliban. Schools are being put up,” he said.
The presentation left approximately an hour for questions, some of which were on topics as diverse as the state of Aboriginal reserves and the role of the Canadian military in Haiti. There was considerable heckling during the question period, which contrasted the silence during the presentation itself.
“I’m very pleased to see that Afghanistan is of considerable interest both in Winnipeg and in other places I have visited,” Sproule said.
“It is in Canada’s national interest to be in Afghanistan, and it’s in Afghanistan’s people’s interests to have us there, and I’m very proud to be a part of this; it is quite the undertaking,” he said.
Sproule’s presentation on Canada’s role in Afghanistan was met by a small group of protestors who carried signs reading ‘Canada out of Afghanistan’ and ‘occupation is a crime.’ The protest was organized by the World People’s Resistance Movement (Winnipeg). Three police officers were also present, and one said, “I’d assume that since you guys are anti-occupation, you’re also anti-violence,” before leaving.
James McKay demonstrated “being detained”: dressed in an orange jumpsuit with a black hood covering his face, the University of Winnipeg student was the focus of media attention.
“It has nothing to do with democracy; it has to do with power and domination,” McKay said.
McKay said that rather than simply raising awareness, the goal of the group is to motivate students to action.
“We’ve just got to show people that what Canada is doing in Afghanistan is not what it’s being painted out to be,” he said. “It’s a dictatorship, dressed up as the best thing in the world.”
With files from Tessa Vanderhart.
