Testifying before Canada’s national defence committee on the Hill two days ago (Monday, 9 February), Defence Minister Peter Mackay claimed that progress was being made in Afghanistan, albeit at a slower pace than would be ideal. Coupled with this unfounded rosy assessment of slow Afghan progress, Mackay also acknowledged a $331 million increase in Afghan war costs for this year.

Mackay’s insistence that progress is being made in Afghanistan goes against substantiated reports made by the British foreign ministry and President Obama’s new civilian proconsul for Afghanistan and Pakistan. The British now acknowledge that NATO forces are in a stalemate with Afghan insurgents. The new American administration prefers the term ‘mess’ in describing the situation. Both statements are true, unlike Mackay’s, but ultimately fail in describing the real problem in Afghanistan. The fact of the matter is that a majority of the Pushtan, a pro-Taliban ethnic group straddling the Afghan-Pakistan border that makes up about a third of Afghanistan’s population, will not stop fighting the established Afghan government until the Taliban is recognized as a legitimate force in Afghanistan politics. At least one British general has stated that progress cannot be made without making peace with the Taliban. The Taliban insurgency, which made more attacks against Western forces in the last year then in any other year of the war, has repeatedly shown that it cannot be stopped by military means.
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Robert Semrau held in military police custody

A Canadian Forces captain must now await a custody hearing after having his day in military court on January 6th.

At least one witness testified as seeing Capt. Robert Semrau, of the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment, shoot and kill a severely wounded and unarmed insurgent during an ambush in October.

The hearing will decide whether Semrau will be released until his trial, which isn’t expected until sometime after the summer.

This issue should ignite some heated debate across the country about whether this act can be considered a mercy killing or whether it is, in fact, murder.

It is reported that Semrau was commanding an Operational Mentor and Liaison Team on Oct. 19 in the Helmand province of Afghanistan when they, as well as Afghan soldiers, were ambushed. With help from American military helicopters the insurgents were fought off. After the air strike, Afghan soldiers moved in and found one Taliban fighter dead, along side another who was still armed but severely wounded. Once disarmed, it was determined that the insurgent’s wounds were “too severe for any type of treatment.”
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