It’s the opposition that is wrong on Afghanistan
To the Editor:
The obsession bordering on madness of the opposition to “bring the boys home”
and champion the “rights” of the Taliban is beyond belief, defies all rational thinking and is
fully deserving of our contempt. It is nothing more than a hypocritical and totally
politically driven agenda to embarass and hopefully bring down the government.
Amrullah Saleh, head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), has rejected
the allegations of torture reported in the Canadian media and says officials from
Canada’s embassy are free to visit detention facilities whenever they wish.
Isn’t it odd these “upholders” of the Geneva convention never mention
the rights of Afghan civilians, the Taliban’s treatment of women or the fact that it is the
Taliban that are killing our soldiers. In nothing less than a “war on women” the Taliban
perpetrated egregious acts of violence, including rape, abduction and forced marriages
on women. Girls over the age of eight were not allowed to attend school and women’s
enrollment in Kabul University was prohibited.
Yet the Liberals, NDP and Bloc, all of whom profess to be avid believers in and defenders
of human rights remain willfully blind to the significant progress being made in Afghanistan
in access to health care and womens rights.
The sacrifice and efforts of Canada and other Western countries is making a
difference in Afghanistan. It’s just too bad politics trumps reality and compassion
with the opposition.
Gerald Hall
Nanoose Bay, B.C.