U.S. Secretary Of State: Canada Will Win In Afghanistan
Posted September 12, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Stay the course and you’ll win the war.
That’s the assurance from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, as she gave what amounts to a pep talk to Canadians in Nova Scotia Tuesday.
The high-ranking American brings her promise of performance just one day after the September 11th attack memorials and at a time when some residents on this side of the border are questioning Canada’s role in Afghanistan.
While she acknowledges the high price Canadians have paid in their battle with the Taliban – including 33 fatalities – she maintains our efforts are helping future generations who will be grateful for the sacrifice.
And she notes much has changed since the September 11th plot was hatched in the mountains of the far off nation.
“We talk about an Afghanistan in which there has been an election for a president and there has been an election for a parliament,” she notes. “We talk about an Afghanistan where the Taliban no longer holds the people of Afghanistan to a standard so brutal, so repressive that women were beaten in stadiums given to the Taliban by the international community to play soccer. We have an Afghanistan in which girls and boys can now go to school and have an education.”
And she claims when the U.S. withdrew some of its forces from the area, the enemy seemed convinced it could return to full strength. But Canada has ensured that hasn’t happened.
“One of the reasons the Taliban came back is they really did believe there would be a diminution in effort from the fierce fighting of the U.S. forces,” she proclaims. “They’ve learned a tough lesson that the Canadians are fierce fighters.”
Rice took issue with an N.D.P. position about bringing our forces home and trying to arrange a peaceful ceasefire.
“The Taliban made Afghanistan a failed state and a terrorist haven for al-Qaida so that they could launch the Sept. 11 attacks,” she concludes. “What’s to negotiate?”
