USA continues to plead for Canada's help. Please. Anything.

[Wezil]

Why is Karzai "legit" then?

[Riesstiu IV]

Because he wears a lamb-fetus hat.

[Drake Tungsten]

Why is Karzai "legit" then?

Because he was chosen to head the government by a loya jirga and then won two elections to keep the position.

[Wezil]

Rigged elections in which the Taliban and ilk were excluded. You can't exclude the major representative from the largest ethnic group and claim you had a free and fair election.

[Drake Tungsten]

Yes, excluding the Taliban is something we should be concerned about...

Karzai is Pashtun himself, btw, so any claims of the "largest ethnic group" in Afghanistan being excluded are ridiculous. Only the violent insurgent Taliban are excluded.

[Wezil]

The result is a government that needs foreign troops to prevent being toppled by it's own citizens.

Yes, Karzai is something we would rather see than the Taliban. That doesn't mean he is the choice of Afghans. I believe in the right of self determination, even if that means they choose the ****tiest option (from my/our perspective) available.

[Barack Obama]

C'mon Harper. Quit being a douche and gimme a hand will ya? I've got lots of goodies in my stash.

[Wezil]

Hey Obama.

Tell Hillary it's generally a bad idea to diss a country right before you ask for something. m'kay?

[Barack Obama]

**** Hillary. You think she actually listens to me? Ever?

[BeBMan]

[Barack Obama]

Yeah you Germans. Great people. When are you going to ditch that ***** Merkel and hang out with the cool people?

[Asher]

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/afghanmission/article/787578--canada-on-afghan-peace-mission-post-2011?bn=1

Canada on Afghan ‘peace mission’ post-2011

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper has dashed Washington’s dream of a closely allied future in Afghanistan, saying the only Canadians in the country past 2011 will be civilians.

In a 20-minute meeting Tuesday morning with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Conservative leader said not a soldier will remain on Afghan soil when the current Canadian mission comes to an end next year.

“It means that the mission post-2011 is going to be a civilian-based mission focused primarily on aid and reconstruction,” said Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for the prime minister.

“The government is currently looking at specifics but the broad strokes are pretty clear.”

Though that’s more detail than the government has ever given about its post-2011 plans, it wasn’t enough for the opposition.

“There has been discussion for a long time about civil, humanitarian work, all kinds of stuff,” said Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff.

“Even on that we have to be clear ... All of this stuff is worthy of public debate and discussion. And it needs to come to Parliament. And this government needs to respect Parliament, respect the Canadian people, and say ‘here's what we are prepared to do in Afghanistan after 2011.’ It's not my job, it's the government's job.”

The government maintains that only military missions need to be ratified by the House of Commons before they proceed. It is unclear if a civilian mission in Afghanistan would be subjected to the same parliamentary oversight.

The further details on Conservative plans for the post-2011 mission will put to rest some of the speculative scenarios that have been floating about in government and defence circles.

The most recent was that a contingent of several hundred Canadian soldiers would be headed to Kabul to conduct basic training operations for the Afghan army when the last soldier leaves Kandahar in December 2011.

The NATO coalition in Afghanistan has requested thousands of additional military and police trainers for the mission in order to get local security forces in a position to take over responsibility for their country.

It also suggests that the Canadian medical team that delivers urgent battlefield care will receive its last rites, the helicopter squadron’s rotors will stop spinning at Kandahar Airfield and the Provincial Reconstruction Team on the outskirts of Kandahar City – home to soldiers, diplomats, aid workers, Mounties and corrections officials – will call it quits.

There are larger implications of the decision that will affect Canada’s standing in the eyes of the world, said Alain Pellerin, a retired Canadian Forces colonel who heads up the Conference of Defence Associations, an organization that advocates a reduced military role for the country in Afghanistan.

Canada’s involvement will inevitably fade from the big-ticket development projects it committed to in 2008, including refurbishing a major irrigation dam in southern Afghanistan and building dozens of schools. With no military force to provide security, the south is simply too dangerous for diplomats and development workers.

“If we’re not careful, at the end of the day the ribbon will be cut by an American general rather than a Canadian ambassador,” Pellerin said of the Dalha Dam project.

[Drake Tungsten]

The result is a government that needs foreign troops to prevent being toppled by it's own citizens.

Foreign troops were fighting the Taliban before Karzai's government was even formed and they'll be fighting them after Karzai is gone. You're being a massive dumbass.

[Barack Obama]

Hey Canadian people,

What is the deal with that punk Ignatieff anyways?

He keeps calling me. ****it. Can you frenchies tell him that I'm not going to give him a free ride to the white house?

[Wezil]

Drake -

Namely?

Fighting the Taliban were the remnants of the Northern Alliance down to about 5% of the country. They were (for the most part) Afghans.