Must be something in the air in Afghanistan...

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Mhhh...

I was a little bit busy this week, so I didn't have much time blogging, but I was taking notes!

I was amazed by the diplomatic blunder of Minister Bernier, openly complaining that corruption is so widespread especially in a province in Afghanistan, that its government should replace the governor of that province.

As a diplomatic faux pas... this one is hard to beat. The next day Bernier, in a laconic press release, just said that we got all wrong and he didn't say what he said. The usual flip-flop of clueless politicians caught pants down. Okay.

About at the same time frame, a Canadian army general, who was so outspoken for the war in Afghanistan... all of a sudden has called it quit. He resigns from the army... and we're told we shouldn't read between the lines and see things that do not exist. Okay.

Must be something funny in the air in Afghanistan, don't you think?

Radio-Canada and TV5 for the past several months have greeted us with thorough reports from Afghanistan, sending their journalists in the population... and of course way way *outside* of army camps.

There are some glaring consensus: Massive disillusion. The hopes we gave them have been blown away. Also the fact that NATO troops are going for a massive defeat if things continue the way they are.

In a way, Afghanistan is our Iraq, in a sense that what seems to be a just and noble cause... and a war that would be an easy win and by some magical wishful thinking everything would be back in order... well the reality has settled in. Even NGO people are now perceived not as liberator, nor helpers, but as occupants, even squarely as enemies and are being targeted.

There are more and more people thinking that during the time of the Taliban regime, things weren't _that_ bad. People had food, a house, a living. Infrastructures were there and the country was running ok. Not so today.

We should have known better. In the current news, there's a lot about the upcoming Olympics in China ... and of course, Tibet. Have we forgotten that we, people of the western world, and that include us, Canadians, we have boycotted the Moscow Olympic Games in 1980... because the Soviets have invaded... Afghanistan? Have we also forgotten how the big mess the Soviets went...

Now, it's our turn... and we're all that... surprised?

In his better days, my dad loved to comment about Afghanistan. His pastime was history and mostly about WW2, for a good reason, since he was in France when WW2 began in 1939. He went into the French Army, then demobilized in 1940 and from then, suffered like millions of French people the occupation of the German Nazi. Once the war ended, he became curious and wanted to know more, and how a passion for history was born.

At first glance, it is a bit of a stretch to draw parallels between the liberation of France and Afghanistan, but somehow, looking at how things are going today, my dad was right on the money, then.

It has fallen a bit into oblivion, but France's future, as a country was extremely uncertain for many years after 1945 (A reason why my dad went to Canada in 1952).

There were several mistakes made.

Liberating France was of course the main goal. However, little thoughts and even less $ were given... to rebuild France, figuratively and literally.

When the enemy was there, it was running the country, it kept things going, and carrying the essential things the population needed. When you storm the place with the power of a war, you oust the enemy, then it becomes *YOUR* burden to keep that country running.

And you should put at least as much effort to oust the enemy in rebuilding the country, in infrastructures, in having a stable government, in everything.

And of course, the colossal cost of WW2... it was utopic to think of that.... and that was France's problem. There was also France's national pride, which didn't help too.

So at first there were the immense joys and dreams of Liberation, with a capital L.

Then as time goes by, people understood that there will still be lots of sacrifices to do, before there will be better time.

Then, as years passed by, came disillusion. When infrastructures are still in shamble, life stops. Difficult to have a job, therefore to afford a roof, get heat during winter for that home. There were many restrictions. Food supply was iffy and unaffordable.

The seed for anarchy settles in, and civil war becomes a real possibility. The foe back then was the Communists. Things happen for the better eventually, but it is simply by sheer luck, and not because of anything concerted or coordinated.

However, in the meantime, France has lost millions of its youngest brilliant people... in exile. My dad is one of them.

(I'm speaking from France's perspective because of my family ties, but the same could be said of many war stricken European countries like Italy for instance).

When I see the war in Afghanistan, it seems obvious (like Iraq), there were no exit strategy. Storm the place, and all things were supposed to happen, "automagically". It didn't happen that way.

There is also that nonsense that you can NOT rebuild and fight a war at the same time.

And as the war drags on... disillusion settles in...

And when disillusion settles in, when the infrastructures are in ruins making impossible to do anything, whether having a job, affording a roof and being able to eat everyday, when "we" as western people we fail on our promises...

Bingo.

We repeat the errors of the past...

Cheers,

-E
Links:
Cyberpresse: La bourde de Bernier soulève un tollé
The Kingston-Whig Standard: Talking to the Taliban
CBC: Hillier refuses to talk legacy despite ongoing efforts to help soldiers' families