Some disapointing news for Jack and the NDP

[HOZ]

NATO in Afghanistan

Reconstruction and development


1. Millions of girls are back in school with 400,000 new female students starting school for the first time this year;
2. Over 100,000 women benefited from micro finance loans to set up their own business;
3. Over a quarter of parliamentarians are women;
4. Over 7 million girls and boys are in school or higher education;
5. 83% of the population now has access to medical facilities, compared to 9 percent in 2004;
6. 76% of children under the age of five have been immunized against childhood diseases;
7. More than 4000 medical facilities opened since 2004;
8. Over 600 midwives were trained and deployed in every province of Afghanistan;
9. GDP growth estimates of between12-14% for the current year;
10. Government revenues increased by around 25% from 2005/06 to 2006/07;
11. Income per capita of $355, compared to $180 three years ago;
12. Afghanistan is one of the fastest growing economies in South-East Asia;
13. Over 4000 km of roads have been completed;
14. Work has begun on 20,000 new homes for Afghans returning to Kabul;
15. Over 1 billion square metres (roughly 32 km X 32 km) of mine contaminated land cleared;
16. 10 universities are operating around the country, against one (barely functioning) under the Taliban; and
17. 17,000 communities benefited from development programmes such as wells, schools, hospitals and roads through the Government’s National Solidarity Program (NSP).


I feel negotiations witht he Taliban should commence immediately!

[jolinar of malkshor]

Good post HOZ....this is what the media really needs to focus on when talking about Afghanistan....

I hope the NDP shuts the hell up now about demanding that our troops withdraw.

[icarus]

Fantastic news. People don't realise that most of the country is quite stable and recovering quite nicely. Its just in the south where the major instability remains. True, there still are occasional kidnappings in Kabul and drug lords in the north. But then again the same could be said for a place like Colombia, and it isn't wartorn and so recently unstable.

I yearn to travel to Afghanistan and tour around Kabul, Bamiyan, Mazar-i-Sharif, and Herat. There is indeed a fledgling tourism industry there and if I ever get some spare cash I would rather spend my tourist buck on some hopeful entrepreneurs trying to get back on track after decades of war than some rich millionaire bigwig's monstrous resort on the beach in a country where the tourists never see the locals. That's just me though.

[icarus]

Originally Posted by HOZ

12. Afghanistan is one of the fastest growing economies in South-East Asia

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by icarus

I read that too. Hopefully that's a typo, otherwise NATO's intelligence is worse than I thought... =)

[Azure]

Good to hear...and props for posting a positive thread. Too much negative crap going around these days.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Azure

Good to hear...and props for posting a positive thread. Too much negative crap going around these days.

Nice to see a positive thread, but too bad the thread title will invite negative feedback.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Seems like good news for anyone. I'm sure the NDP are happy about these things too.

[metallicat]

I think it would be a shame for Canada to completely pull out in '09. A lot of success out of that country it seems.

[nieuwy-89]

Great news. This is why the troops are there, and apparently it's working.

Imagine if the CBC picked up on even 10% of the good things that are happening in Afghanistan.

[CaptainCrunch]

Puts the casualties and sacrifices into perspective for me, especially when you see.

1. Millions of girls are back in school with 400,000 new female students starting school for the first time this year;
4. Over 7 million girls and boys are in school or higher education;
5. 83% of the population now has access to medical facilities, compared to 9 percent in 2004;
6. 76% of children under the age of five have been immunized against childhood diseases;
7. More than 4000 medical facilities opened since 2004;

[Aeneas]

Anyone have any positive effects of the Iraq War? These are great things for the ordinary people of Afghanistan, for the cost of 66 Canadians, and I dont know how many other forces. I just wonder if those thousands of US, British, and other forces have had anywhere near the positive effect on Iraq's population.

[FlamesAllTheWay]

Makes you wonder how much better off the country would be if the USA had stayed out of Iraq..

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Aeneas

Anyone have any positive effects of the Iraq War? These are great things for the ordinary people of Afghanistan, for the cost of 66 Canadians, and I dont know how many other forces. I just wonder if those thousands of US, British, and other forces have had anywhere near the positive effect on Iraq's population.

"Some disapointing news for Stephen and the Conservatives"

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

"Some disapointing news for Stephen and the Conservatives"

Why they're not involved in Iraq at all?

Or did you just want to make sure that you threw in some Conservatives are evil and have a hidden agenda stuff into a thread that had nothing to do with it.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Or did you just want to make sure that you threw in some Conservatives are evil and have a hidden agenda stuff into a thread that had nothing to do with it.

That's about right, except the hidden agenda stuff. I've never been one for those lines. My issues with the Conservatives or any party have never been hidden.
This thread has nothing to do with the NDP (despite the title), so my comment about the Conservatives is no more out of place then the title of the thread itself.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

That's about right, except the hidden agenda stuff. I've never been one for those lines. My issues with the Conservatives or any party have never been hidden.
This thread has nothing to do with the NDP (despite the title), so my comment about the Conservatives is no more out of place then the title of the thread itself.

Well...it is the NDP that are demanding that the Canadian troops leave Afghanistan....it is the NDP that wants Canada to sit down with the Taliban and negotiate....it has been the NDP's position all along that Canadian troops should not be there....it was the NDP that put a motion forward to end immediatly any combat roles for Canadian troops.

Shall I go on?

[Devils'Advocate]

First off, I support the mission in Afghanistan and a couple months ago when I lived in Ottawa Centre I wrote my NDP MP (whom I voted for and would again if I still lived there) stating that I thought the NDP were doing a dis-service to the Afghan people who want and need us there.

BUT what I'm not getting here is why conservatives are bashing Jack for his "negotiate with the Taliban" comment. The Taliban are not listed as a terrorist group by any nation that I know of. They overthrew a corrupt Afghan government and instituted an efficient and strong government. Yes, it was obviously mysogynistic and oppressive, but that doesn't make it a terrorist group.

Why is it that right wingers laud negotiations with Kim Jong-Il while laughing at the notion of negotiating with the Taliban? And don't tell me one side has the bomb and the other doesn't. There appears to be a serious philosophical contradiction here that goes beyond "well it's okay to negotiate with Kim Jong-Il because we're scared less of him".

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

First off, I support the mission in Afghanistan and a couple months ago when I lived in Ottawa Centre I wrote my NDP MP (whom I voted for and would again if I still lived there) stating that I thought the NDP were doing a dis-service to the Afghan people who want and need us there.

Good for you, nice job

BUT what I'm not getting here is why conservatives are bashing Jack for his "negotiate with the Taliban" comment. The Taliban are not listed as a terrorist group by any nation that I know of. They overthrew a corrupt Afghan government and instituted an efficient and strong government. Yes, it was obviously mysogynistic and oppressive, but that doesn't make it a terrorist group. [/quote]

It was hardly an efficient government, as it couldn't and wouldn't provide the basics to its own people. Marginalized and brutalized a section of its own population (Woman). But your right, it was a strong government, I mean the way that they suckered those international charity groups into refurbishing the football stadium so that the new re-enforced goal posts could support multiple hangings. The Olympic swimming pool was effective in improving the diving training for thier prisoners, too bad that the Taliban forgot that the pool should be filled with water.

Now you've got the Taliban running around the country side executing its own civilians, selectively kidnapping civilians and hacking thier heads off. Parking car bombs in the middle of civilian areas. Executing teachers.

They are the classical definition of both a terrorist group, and a malignant entity. There is no way that they should be negotiated with. They need to be exterminated. Remember that prior to the start of this war, one of the key taliban exports was terrorist training, and acting as a meeting and resting point for various terrorist groups.

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

Why is it that right wingers laud negotiations with Kim Jong-Il while laughing at the notion of negotiating with the Taliban? And don't tell me one side has the bomb and the other doesn't. There appears to be a serious philosophical contradiction here that goes beyond "well it's okay to negotiate with Kim Jong-Il because we're scared less of him".

Nice generalization, unfortunately, the two sides are different, and the fact that the North Korean's have the bomb is hugely relevant. Combine that with the fact that South Korea's capital is well within range of several thousand pieces of tubed and rocket artillary and you have a tactical problem. Also Kim Jong-Il is in power, and is unlikely to be deposed, and has a massive military, so unless your willing to go in at a cost of 100 of thousands of troops, and probably millions of civilian lives, you have to negotiate with him, as gross a concept as there is.

The Taliban is out of power, is not a legit government, and has shown that it likes to strike out at civilians, Plus we've also seen what they did when they were in power.

There is a huge difference between the two.

[Aeneas]

Curious what the definition of a terrorist group would be. There is a group in Afghanistan that kidnaps innocent people and murders them. Some of the leadership of this group has recently condoned the kidnap and murder of civilians and foreign aid workers.

I apologize for bringing Iraq into a good news thread, I was honestly interested in some good news from that front as well. Should have known it would turn into a political debate.