Canada Assesses Pitfalls and Progress in Afghanistan

Norine MacDonald of the Senlis Council — a security, development and counternarcotics group – briefs the Canadian Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development on Canada’s faltering contributions to Afghan development. Based on studies conducted in Kandahar, MacDonald outlines the “chilling” conditions of everyday life within the southern Afgan province. Lack of civilian opportunity, infrastructural development and Canada’s bungled relief efforts have sold military successes short and made collaboration with the Taliban an attractive option for Afghan men. MacDonald suggests the creation of a special Canadian envoy to coordinate development efforts, a balancing of development aid and military budgets and a restructuring of antinarcotics efforts, all in conjunction with existing UN millennium goals.