Canadian ministers push the Bush line on Afghanistan

Once again, decreasing stability in an occupied country is merely a sign that the insurgents are 'desperate'. The worse things look, the better they really are in Decider-speak.
Karzai basically only controls the capital, Kabul, as warlords refuse to pay tax receipts to the federal government or even enforce its dictates. Now the capital itself is being hit with suicide bombers on a regular basis and Karzai's support is evaporating. His position is maintained by foreign occupation forces, and he can't even pay the salaries of public employees.

And all of this somehow is proof that we are succeeding in Afghanistan. Certainly it has nothing to do with Bush's unwarranted optimism or the demands of the surge in Iraq. I mean, if Bush really had bungled Afghanistan, things would look bad there, wouldn't they? And all Bush sees is a 'desperate' enemy, so why worry?

Cabinet ministers trumpet Afghan mission on unannounced visit

LES PERREAUX

Canadian Press and Associated Press

October 6, 2007 at 6:07 PM EDT

KABUL, Afghanistan — Two newly shuffled Canadian cabinet ministers arrived in the Afghan capital just 30 minutes after another deadly suicide bomb attack Saturday, but that didn't daunt their persistent pitch that life is getting better for ordinary Afghans.

International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda and Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier landed in Kabul a short time after a suicide bomber struck on the main airport road, killing a U.S. soldier and four civilians. That attack came on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban from power.

Ms. Oda tried to reassure skeptical Afghan journalists that the shift by the insurgents to roadside and suicide bombings actually illustrated the success of the western security mission in Afghanistan.

Although such tactics have long racked southern Afghanistan, the fact that suicide bombings were now occurring in the capital showed that the Taliban were desperate because of their inability to win on the battlefield, Ms. Oda said.

Ms. Oda said she recently met senior Afghan officials and together they "identified that the difference in the challenge in Kandahar today can be seen as, to a certain extent, success."

Insurgents "are having to resort to other more desperate ways of trying to make their statements," she told a couple dozen Afghan reporters and a handful of Canadians.

Ms. Oda's reassurances come amid recent reports that the intensity of the insurgency is growing.

The United Nations' Department of Security and Safety has reported that the "security situation in Afghanistan is assessed by most analysts as having deteriorated at a constant rate through 2007."

The UN confirmed rebels were moving away from battlefield confrontations, but "the numbers of incidents are higher than comparable periods in 2006."

Instead of localized battles, bombings have been spreading across the country, the UN said.

Police have become favourite targets and civilians face mounting intimidation, the report added.

A count by The Associated Press showed about 5,100 people have died so far this year in insurgency related violence, about 1,000 more than all of 2006.

Most of the casualties have been insurgents reportedly killed in battle, according to numbers supplied by the Afghan government and western forces. The Taliban accuses the West of greatly exaggerating rebel losses.

Once relatively tranquil, Kabul has faced three major bomb attacks in a week. The bombings have claimed 37 lives, mostly civilians and police.

While Ms. Oda pointed to signs of progress like the 1,200 Canadian-sponsored wells being dug in the Kandahar region, Mr. Bernier added that "we can see the situation in Kandahar has improved."

When Ms. Oda turned the subject to record enrolment in Afghan schools, including enrolment among girls, one Afghan reporter asked about a recent Afghan human rights report that said children were beginning to stay home from school out of fear.

One more reason Afghanistan needs Canadian soldiers, Ms. Oda said, referring to the meeting she and Mr. Bernier held with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"He brought this up, and he explained why we have to stay in Afghanistan and we have to continue working in Afghanistan," Ms. Oda said.

Ms. Oda and Mr. Bernier also visited a restoration project in an ancient Kabul neighbourhood.

Ms. Oda announced Canada will contribute $3-million over three years to a project to dig out the neighbourhood that became a dump in the 1970s and now is buried under several metres of garbage.

But even here, the Afghans journalists indicated they were more concerned about public safety than Canadian-sponsored good works.

Mr. Bernier said he discussed the potential of negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban with Mr. Karzai.

"People who believe in a peaceful process will come into the discussion," Mr. Bernier said.

Mr. Karzai has said he is willing to talk to Taliban and other insurgent leaders any time.

However, Mr. Bernier said Kabul "won't discuss with people who believe in violence."

Canada's position on negotiations has not changed, Mr. Bernier added, saying the Taliban must first renounce violence.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper shuffled Ms. Oda and Mr. Bernier into their current cabinet posts in August.

Canada has some 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, the majority in the violent southern province of Kandahar. Seventy-one Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died since the Canadian mission in Afghanistan began in 2002.