Understand Afghanistan

Where does one begin an essay about Afghanistan? Historically speaking, jump in at any decade and the story is basically the same: this is a country in a region that is easy to march into but difficult to leave. It’s been invaded by the Greeks, the British and the Russians. And now Canada's military participation which was handed the lousy job of maintaining order in the streets of Kabul.

There are 34 provinces either controlled by the local warlords or the military or the Taliban and what most people don't understand is that the country is probably easier to rule under such a system. [Perhaps Aghanistan can adopt and adapt a version of Canada’s confederation.] The country has vast areas of desert in the south and mountains in the north. There are very few major roads and the climate doesn't suit much agriculture except the opium fields planted in the fall and harvested in the spring.
 
Control the opium fields and you can control the country, to a certain extent. [At least that’s what the Americans are trying to achieve.] Trouble is, as the Canadian Army has discovered, everybody wants a piece of the action. But like the Soviets who left in 1989, after 8 long years, the Canadians will be hard pressed to leave in 2006. Their shared mission is disguised to look like a UN peacekeeping assignment, but it's not. Canada wanted to please the United States in 2001 after the WTC attacks during the early days of the so-called War on Terror. Jean Chretien committed troops to Afghanistan because it was easy and typical of a Canadian compromise. It was easy to say yes in those days and again easy to march into Afghanistan. Alas, our new PM, who has stated clearly that he will not budge from our commitment to the war there, doesn't know what to do. That's because it is extremely difficult to leave a battlefield where peace is just a five-letter word. Just like it was for the Russians, the British and the Greeks. The question for Canadians is: how many soldiers will die before we, too, give up the assignment?
 
That's just my opinion. I could be wrong.