Pubdate: Thu, 29 Jun 2006
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: John Cotter, The Canadian Press

'IMPOSSIBLE MISSION'

Failing U.S. Policies In Afghanistan Are Killing Canadians, British Report Says

KANDAHAR -- Canadian troops and Afghan civilians are paying with 
their lives because of failing U.S. policies to erase the opium poppy 
crop, says a report by a British think-tank.

The poppy eradication campaign has driven rural farmers into such 
extreme poverty that they are shifting their support to the Taliban 
because the international community and the Afghan government are not 
doing enough to meet their basic needs, says the report by the 
London-based Senlis Council.

"Canadian troops have been handed an impossible mission which can 
only lead to significant casualties," says the report, released yesterday.

"Until Canada fundamentally re-evaluates its approach and creates its 
own new strategy for its presence in Kandahar, with a clear split 
from the failed U.S. policies there, the Canadian mission in 
Afghanistan is blindly following a path that will lead to senseless 
military and civilian casualties."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended Canada's activities in the 
war-ravaged country.

Canada is working to eliminate the threat of terrorism, but also 
wants to eliminate drug trafficking, which is causing problems in our 
streets, he said.

"For that reason we support the efforts of the international 
community to eradicate drug production," Harper said.

Lt.-Col. Ian Hope, commander of the Princess Patricia's battle group 
in Kandahar dismissed the report as a political document that is 
steeped in anti-Americanism.

While there are some minor poppy eradication programs in Kandahar, 
they have nothing to do with Canadians and are having nowhere near 
the negative impact set out in the report, he said.

"It makes me angry because it trivializes the efforts of soldiers on 
the ground who are doing the right thing every day," he said.

Opium poppies, which do not require irrigation in the 
drought-stricken region, represent a huge chunk of the local economy. 
The drug harvest brings in 10 times as much money to impoverished 
villagers as a crop of wheat.

While Canadian troops aren't actively involved in poppy eradication, 
the report says farmers see them as complicit in the U.S.-sponsored campaign.

The report also accuses Canadian forces of accidentally killing 
innocent civilians during security sweeps.

Hope said not a single Afghan civilian has been killed in all the 
firefights Canadian troops have had with the Taliban.
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