Canada is an Aggressor in Afghanistan

Earlier this month, Canadian Foreign Affairs Political Director Glyn Berry was killed in a bomb attack on a military convoy about one kilometre southeast of Canada's military base in Kandahar City in Afghanistan. Three Canadian soldiers were also wounded in this attack. The convoy was a joint American-Canadian one working under the command of the United States. Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin stated that Mr. Berry gave his life for the "pursuit of peace and stability" and vowed that Canada "will continue our work in Afghanistan", while the news reports in the mass media characterized the bomb attack as the work of "terrorists".

Nobody wants Canadians to be killed in Afghanistan – either diplomats or soldiers. But it cannot be forgotten that Canada is playing the role of aggressor and occupier in Afghanistan. Canadian troops were sent to Afghanistan to put down the legitimate and just resistance of the Afghani people to the U.S.-led occupation of their country and to the puppet government installed by the United States and its allies. The suppression of this resistance is what Paul Martin calls "the pursuit of peace and stability".

Who are the real terrorists in the world? During the Second World War, in every single country that resisted German, Italian and Japanese aggression and occupation, the patriotic forces were called "terrorists" by the Nazis, fascists and militarists and their puppet regimes. The Canadian government is no different in this respect from the German Nazis, Italian fascists, and Japanese militarists.

Moreover, the Canadian government has a double standard. When the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Afghanistan in 1979, the Canadian government denounced this aggression and supported the resistance fighters. Canada even boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics over this issue. In other words, when the patriotic Afghani forces fought the Soviet Union they were "freedom fighters" but when they fight against the U.S., British and Canadian invaders they are "terrorists".

Canada should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan and recognize the right of the people of Afghanistan to sort out their problems without outside interference. The struggle of the Afghani people against foreign aggression and occupation is a just struggle.


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