CBC News Editors' Blog

We must stay in Afganistan until the democratically elected government has sufficent internal resources to keep out Al Qaida and the Taliban - even if it takes years.

After WWII the Allies kept a presence in several of their former enemies for several years to ensure a stable transition to democracy. There are still US troops in Germany, Japan and Korea (after the end of the Korean War). Look at the progress those countries have made.

Although Afagnistan was not an enemy it hosted al Qaida and the same situation applies.

Canada is in Afganistan under UN and NATO auspices. Canada has not "invaded Afganistan" as some loons have claimed.

In Japan, at the end of WWII, Gen MacArthur wrote the Japanese Constitution which gave women, in a very male dominated society, the right to vote. Afganistan is no different.

I am shocked that the NDP and Liberals, who loudly proclaim equal rights for women (at least in Canada), would advocate a withdrawal of Canadian forces knowing full well that would lead to the re-Talibanizaion of the country and fresh oppression of women. Shame on you Messrs Dion and Layton!

Robt from Toronto contends Canada must stay in Afghanistan until the democratically elected government (presumably he means Karzai's gang) has the resources to keep out al Qaeda and the Taliban. Perhaps Robt isn't aware of the lengths Karzai is going to in order to strike a power-sharing deal with the Taliban. It's unfortunate that this fellow has such a weak grasp of the role US (and other NATO forces) have played in their overseas deployments to Germany, Japan and Korea. Canada has not invaded Afghanistan but, as Petraeus himself as said, there is a limited shelf life before a liberation force becomes an occupation force. The Taliban, Robt., are the Pashtun home team. We're infidels. We're religiously, politically, economically, culturally, socially, linguistically and ethnically alien to the Pashtun, Uzbek, Tajik, Hazara, Baloch and Turkmen tribes of Afghanistan. History has shown that infidels don't fare either well or for very long in Afghanistan and, woefully understaffed as we are, we're no exception. Afghanistan doesn't have a functioning democracy. Women's rights are a dark farce. Feudal tribalism prevails and will for generations to come. "The Mission" is deeply and fatally flawed.

The Afghanistan mission is hopelessly and fatally flawed. Six years on and Karzai's government remains corrupt and unstable. We continue to battle the Taliban while Karzai takes every opportunity to collaborate with them on a power-sharing deal.

The nonsense about women's rights is laughable. Female legislators are threatened with rape on the floor of their legislature and pre-teenage girls languish in prison, only a few miles away from our forces, for refusing their fathers' plans to sell them to some other 50-year old.

The whole rotten place has become one great narco-state. Even Karzai's brother is in the business. Ignoring these realities isn't supporting the troops, it's empty-headed cheerleading.

If the Afghans ever find their way to democracy it will be on their terms and on their timetable. Trying to implant Western democracy has been a grand failure in a nation now best suited to medieval feudalism.

To Robt. from Toronto, a question. How many major Afghan warlords can you name and what are they doing right now? Once you get accurate answers to those questions, you'll be able to come to a more useful opinon about the merits of "the mission."

Robt. of Toronto

Is "There are still U.S. troops in Germany, Japan and Korea" supposed to convince Canadians the boys'll be home by Christmas or something?

I think 59 percent of those Canadians polled told CBC last November what to do about our troops in Afghanistan, bring them home, asap.

A year later nearly twice as many Canadian troops are dead, the Taliban are as strong as ever and, despite vows by cabinet ministers like Stockwell Day that no one negotiates with the Taliban, guess who's been invited to the table?.

The wheels have pretty much stopped spinning on this adventure. The west is about to be flooded by the newfound rush of narcotics out of Afghani poppie fields and "reconstruction" is an Orwellian irony.

Let's put those recently purchased military transport planes to good use and get out.

The Afghanistan situation seems to be misled not only by NATO, but by all governments involved. There needs to be an effort to promote peace worldwide via peaceful efforts.
That's what all people want.

Trying to force democracy upon people who have never heard of it, or who have experience in the system is not going to work.

What's wrong with our leadership? Can't they see that things are not working? It's time to let other countries run their own affairs.

Democracy was fine 50 years ago, but the way it is now, only the people in control benefit from the system. If the common people are not heard there will never be peace.

It is sad to see that we are failing in Afghanistan. The history has shown that all invading forces have failed. I am sad that all these people have such a negative view of Afghan culture. Isn't our right to live the way we want to. One can never force anyone to leave their culture. Imagine the same argument that Taliban are saying that the west is not repecting women. It is obvious that we are separated and our cultures are different, But honestly do you think, invading and killing people is the right way to go about changing people's behavior? Bullying people around and droping bombs on houses doesn't change any cultural behavior. Instead it leads to extremisim. Why do you think there are Taliban and AlQaida formed in first place? The answer is that they were formed to fight Soviet Union who wanted Afghans to change Afghan backwarded culture. What did Soviet Unions' good intentions led to? It only led to more violence and more extremisim. If we really care about Women and Girls of Afghanistan, we should first stop killing them, and stop killing their fathers, husbands and sons. How could you kill someone's husband or father and tell her that you have made her better off? The whole logic is wrong. We need peace and that can come only by negotiation and agreement. Go Layton you are the true representative of democracy!

My husband will be deploying in Feb.08. He is currently in Wainwright AB. on excercise and has been there for the past 6 weeks. We have a 5 yr old daughter who misses her father terribly, although this is only a work-up excercise to the actual deployment it has been very difficult for us. There is a sense of lonliness, and being a single parent is extremely hard. I, as a wife and mother would prefer that my husband NOT go to Afghanistan, but as a "Military Wife" I have to support him and the job he does. I want all of our troops home, with there families. There have been to many casualties, some of whom we knew personally. Perhaps it is time for some of the other NATO countries to step up and participate in this mission to the extent that the Canadian troops have.

Thank you.

In response to Robt in Toronto.The presence of American bases in Japan ,Germany and Korea is unacceptable to the people of these nations.If you want to know the truth about American global ambitions, I highly recommend these books, "Blow Back by Chalmers Johnson", Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky", "Future Tense", by Gwynne Dyer, "The shock doctrine", by Naomi Klein .Anyone with a social conscience would not want our government to partake in any military adventure with the Americans. It is surprising how western "main stream" media has been able to suppress and distort the real truth. Support for the political right is support for the political wrong. Wayne McGinnis

As a woman, and a feminist, I deplore the use of the women's rights argument to justify our activities in Afghanistan. When we leave, the sucking sound of the vacumn being filled by the generations old tribal system will be heard around the world.
As long as our foreign policy is aligned with American foreign policy, we will be seen by the rest of the world as just like them - and the list of atrocities performed by American policy are too numerous to mention here but go read some history - please!!!

to Allen,Kamploops

guess what allen....the PM of Afghanistan offered to talk to the Taliban. He was hoping to divide the Taliban.

Just because the PM made the offer doesn't mean they will talk....get with it. So far they haven't offered to talk. Smart move by the PM and good comment by Stockwell Day.

To Robbo et al:

I belive, as do the majority of Canadians, that Canada is doing an honourable thing in a part of the world that desparately needs peace, stability and reconstruction.

It is very easy to crap on Canada, the US, NATO and the UN. But wihtout us, where would Afghanistan be? Back in the clutches of the Taliban and al Qaida which is bad news for Afghans and for the western world.

The recent poll done by the CBC shows Afghans see their lives and their country changing for the better.

Karai may not be perfect but he is a huge improvment over your heroes Mulla Omar, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.

Unfortunately, fighting Islamic fascism is just as nasty and difficult as fighting German and Japanese fascism. Yet, thankfully, our parents did it and succeeded even though it meant "invading" the "home teams'" turf. As you well know, thousands of Canadians died to protect and preserve the freedoms we enjoy today (such as free speech!). The risk of Canadians dieing did not deter them because their cause was just - as is our cause in Afghanistan today.

By reading your comments I shudder to think what would have happened had your attitudes prevailed before and during WW II and the Korean war.

The news will stun those who believe in good journalism and may be the integrity of Canada’s national broadcaster, the CBC. They are now covering the war in Afghanistan by opinion poll. True! Opinion polls are despised the world over because of their notorious unreliability even in the most stable of democracies. They merely record a snapshot of a moment in time and the picture that results is entirely dependent on the way the questions are phrased and to whom they are asked.

Yet, outrageously, the CBC trumpets the news that: “51% of Afghanis feel good about the direction of the country:” With all the cerebral sophistication of grade three tiddlywinks drop-outs, the so-called senior management at the CBC convinced themselves that this was legitimate news gathering. An opinion poll in Afghanistan. They even had the nerve to say the margin for error was 2.5%. They allegedly polled 1600 people but there are another 31 million they did not ask. And of course, people talking to foreign pollster whilst under occupation are the likeliest on the planet to say exactly what they’re expected to. And the CBC headlines this nonsense as responsible, legitimate journalism. And you and I are slapped in the face with this disregard for our own intelligence and our own need for proper reporting in Afghanistan.

The economic and political progress in Korea is absolutely not the result of the US army.

Still, people who live in Japan and Korea hate US army.

We should consider what the people's thinking inside the country.

If they don't want international force, that's it.

Nobody can force to stay there under the name of promoting democracy.

John Scully pointed out the main dificiency in this poll. The Canadians polled Afghans. Canada is occupying Afghanistan. Hmmm... That'll give you accurate responses.

What is this poll supposed to mean? Five years ago they were in the same war that they are in now. The poll should have asked if they were better off now than they were before they were invaded.

With a 28.1% literacy rate it is doubtful that there was any kind of anonymity afforded to persons taking the poll.

And in a country with troops and mercenaries from no less than 2 dozen countries, a corrupr police force, countless private militias, and a dysfunctional justice system... who, under the circumstances,would dare answer a poll freely and truthfully.

The poll is at best pathetic and it's promotion a disgrace for the CBC which, rather than serving the public, has instead served the interests of politics, greed, and cruelty.

The press is a sacred trust. Shame on you.

Why does the CBC only use environics in their polls?.
I understand it is aligned with the liberal party.
I used to be under the impression that federally funded organizations [such as CBC]had to contract out by "bidding" and must rotate their "suppliers"
Does the CBC bypass this procedure or do they have another set of rules?

Herman

51% is not the best percentage. What does "good" mean and were the respondents men? Did 49% of the respondents say, get the heck out of my country and stop invading us?

FOR JOHN SCULLY et al: From my perspective, having been centrally involved in the production of various chapters of the CBC's 'investigative journalism' (I also worked for Environics), I would submit to you that this 'result' is NOT what the CBC expected - Moreover, the usual fare that the CBC trumpets is in fact how 'hopelessly flawed' the Afghan mission is. [note: the very headline itself rather obscures the fact that only 28% are fully of the other opinion]. Now, it would appear that a great many of the people of Afghanistan recognize the value of what Canadian troops are doing - it would be refreshing if we Canadians, instead of rushing to reference our precious Chomsky bed-side reader, might consider not just the justification of support for our troops - but rather, dare I mention that most terrifying prospect for defeat-invested Laytonites, the potential for 'success' of the Afghan mission. I would welcome other laudable solutions from those most fearful of a Starbucks in downtown Kandahar - what say you? Let's leave the MAJORITY of Afghans who support the Canadian effort to their medieval warlords (and no, I do not collect their trading cards) and their heroin factories? Hmmm, not much of a plan - what's Jack's plan for these 'working families'?

I'm glad to hear that the smallest majority possible of 1% of Afghanistan's population believe that the country's heading in the right direction. But that doesn't change the fact that Canada is an occupying force in Afghanistan (as is every other country with troops in Afghanistan).

I'm afraid, Robt, that you have been brainwashed by our politicians and mass media, as many Canadians have. There is a shocking degree of naivete among us Western World types when it comes to the Middle East. This occupation isn't about women's rights and freedom. If you really feel strongly about these issues, why aren't you advocating Canadian troops in Saudi Arabia, where women aren't allowed to drive or be seen in public with a male unless they are married.

If you had any grasp of US foreign policy since the 1950s, you would realize that this is just another example in a long list of "regime changes" orchestrated by the US government/military to exploit resources in that region and to install a US and capitalist-friendly leader to do their bidding for them. And this time, shamefully, Canada is backing the US, though it's not the first time.

Robt says he'd shudder to think what would've happened if we held these attitudes during WWII. But there's a big difference. In WWII, we were fighting the bad guys, the threat to stability and world peace. This time, we are the bad guys--we are the primary threat. The Western World has killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghanis over the past 5 or so years. This isn't a war, this is a genocide.

Like any other polls, they can say whatever the group sponsoring the poll wants... It should say 49% don't have a clue what direction their country is taking. I call BS. Time to pack up our troops by 2009 like our minority government promised and let the Americans retreating from Iraq go back into Afghanistan where THEY started it all.

If you live by opinion polls you die by them too!

Question: Is country going in right direction?

Answers:
Mar 2004 64% Asia Foundation
Nov 2005 85% by WorldOpinionPoll.Org
Aug 2006 44% Asia Foundation
Sep 2007 51% CBC

Looks like the trend is downwards so I wouldn't get too excited that "a majority!!!!" of Afghanis think that things are improving.... by the way all the polls were conducted by ACSOR and used similar methodologies....

Is CBC trying to convert itself into a conservative propaganda machine? I think I have some points. The first reason could be the struggle it is going through for its survival. So, may be the people at CBC have decided to go with the government to at least keep getting the funding at the same level if not increased.

Lets look at this specific news. Are the common principles of opinion polls which are very often used in countries like Canada are equally applicable in case of a highly polarized country like Afghanistan? It is well-known that the people in the areas away from Kabul are more anti-govt and anti-west. How many people from that segment has been included in this poll though it is touted to be a national one? Moreover, is it a very positive news where only 51% people of a country (which is infamous for horrible violence)thinks that the country is going in a positive direction. We all know that even the most scientific opinion polls would have some margin of error.

Another example. Last night, in the 'National' there was a documentary showing that conservative party is becoming more popular among the ethnic minority groups. But the latest provincial polls in Ontario showed just the opposite. Whatever analyses may be the political pundits come up with, the bottom line is that the conservatives could not breach the liberal stronghold in the more ethnically diversed places like the GTA. Whether this trend is good or bad, could lead to a separate debate. But CBC seems to indulging itself into a right-wing propaganda for sure.

looks like a poll conveniently manufactured by Harper gov to support his agenda in the poor country. Everyone with IQ knows how easy it is to manipulate and get a favorable poll, legally.
eom.

John Scully, you're throwing exactly the kind of hissy fit that I knew the "anti-war" movement would.

Canadians who oppose the NATO mission would be championing this poll if it showed a clear majority of Afghans wanting us out, but because it gave the "wrong" answers then that can only mean the poll is tainted somehow.

You'd almost think they WANT the mission to fail - the Afghans be damned!

Oh come on now! The CBC does an opinion poll in Afghanistan. Now how accurate was that? Let me guess... you did it by telephone?
Small wonder the CBC has shrinking credibility with anyone with an internet connection. Even Americans are waking up on mass and following honest conservative leaders like Ron Paul and the growing truth movement in regards to what we are really doing in the middle east. Do you really think Canadians will not follow suit?
Stop wasting my tax dollars!

This poll basically discredits your own reporting on Afghanistan, which has been relentlessly downbeat and negative over the past couple of years. We keep hearing that development projects are going too slowly or are non-existent, that Canadian troops are viewed as occupiers, that public frustration is growing among Afghans. And now your very own poll tells us otherwise. How can we possibly believe any of your reporting from now on?

If Canadians want safety and ACCESS to rights and resources for women and girls, stop killing them and their brothers, husbands, and sons and other social support systems. Stop creating climates that faciliate the raping of women and girls. Stop burning them with bombs and bullets. How many stories do we not see of women and girls being hurt by white "western" troops and police in Afghanistan (and in Canada)? It is Orwellian doublespeak to say that by hurting, killing, and policing a country that this is "giving them" democracy. Democracy is not capitalism, people control, and oil. It is not something to be "given" as though our democracy has ever worked in Canada. Democracy means self-determination of peoples and social justices for all. Give people real voices and choices. This is 1800 colonialism all over again for what purposes and to what end? I feel that this 51% study is horrible "science". There is a book called: How to Lie with Statistics. Google it. Finally, I apologize on behalf of Canadians to any Afghan people reading this and potential political impacts of this "national" story to further legitimate and support invasion and death of your country and people. Sorry.

90% of those polled including a majority in the south think that the Americans are fighting the Taliban, yet they want the Canadians to stay. If this poll is representative of the country, then 9 out of 10 people haven't got a very clear grasp of what's going on. Democracy requires more than 10% of the population to be somewhat observant, engaged and capable of understanding the structural procedures of a democratic process. War-lord style feudalism will probably re-emerge and prevail, whether we leave in 2009, 2011, or 2021. I am more concerned at how quickly North America’s democratic traditions and freedoms are devolving than how slowly some other countries are evolving.

No one speaks to the randomness of the sample methodology, let alone the legitimacy of a survey within an environment of sheer chaos and hatred; conducted and financed by foreigners. It certainly sounds good, looks good…perhaps too good!

First, I would like CBC to explain the background of Afghan Center for Socio-Economic and Opinion Research (ACSOR) - "a joint venture of D3 Systems (US) and BBSS-TNS (Bulgarian.)" as George Hoff noted here. How such a company was established immediately after the 2001 occupation by US (and Nato). This is another case of extreme outsourcing by Environics who claims to have overseen the polling (from Ottawa and through D3 Systems in the US?).

Second, Afghanistan is better off probably due to recent tremendous increase in drug growth and traffic revenues. CBC was even invited a couple of weeks ago by a drug lord to film his operation. What's going on here? Such a mighty NATO and US can not even stop a few Talibans who are supported by very few people at all according to this poll, or the wide spread drug industry, in such a powerless country? Is the situation there by design or do NATO countiries really want to solve the problem at all? It has been six years since the fall of Taliban. Maybe these poor solders just have been (and are to be) killed and injured for nothing at the end because our governments do not have either the intention or the resolve to solve the problem.

Would You PLEASE publish the actual results of the poll, giving the actual text (or as close as can be approximated in English and French) of each question and the responses in each response category for each question (the provincial breakouts, especially for Kandahar and Kabul, would be of great interest, too). Your report, however well intentioned, is necessarily restricted, and prevents us from forming an informed opinion of the sort which access to the entire of the poll's results would permit.

How low can you go? The CBC is now resorting to using opinion polls about the war in Afghanistan! You've got to be kidding me! This is journalism? Your coverage of the war in Afghanistan is, at best, sadly lacking in objectivity, and, at worst - cheerleading. This at a time when Canada most needs responsible reporting.

I am having a hard time believing the published results .It would be useful to see a complete list of questions asked . I have read of a tendancy amongst Afghans , to tell visitors what they think they want to hear .The Globe and Mail gives the breakdown on ten questions , which has sme results that support concerns that this poll isn't really worthwhile .I can't believe that 60% of Afghans know that Canadian troops are in Kandahar .Where any of the questioners asked if they support the Taliban ? If support for the Karzai Governmnet and foreign troops are as high as indicated, why aren't Afghans joining there army and police , aespecially when unemployment is as high as it is , and many Afghans have military experience from a generation of war.The environics pollster interviewed by my local CBC pointed out that a higher percentage of Afghnas agreed to be polled , than normally do in Canadian polls .That should be a warning , since Canada has a longer traditon of opinion polls than Afghanistan .In the absence of alot more details ,these polls have to be taken with a block of salt.

Excuse me if I'm skeptical about the validity of this "poll." This is a mainly rural country with very high illiteracy rates, and where few Afghans have telephones. As a result, the pollsters did in-home interviews. Having travelled in Afghanistan myself, and knowing something of the culture, I suspect respondants would have given the pollsters the answers they thought they wanted. I also doubt that views of women would receive sufficient weight. Results would vary tremendously from one region to another, rural to urban. And the views of people in Herat or Shibarghan about Karzai, who is more like the mayor of Kabul, would be irrelvant. Presenting this poll in the same light as a telephone poll done in Canada is irresponsible.

I would like to believe the poll to be accurate . But from what I gather the people are so scared and intimidated by the west that they would say anything to get them out, and not get killed in the process. Especially if they believe the US are the main player.

I'm reminded of the Iraq parades where kids were told to go out and wave and smile to the US troops and pretend they were happy ( thanks for liberating us ,now go home). Because they were so afraid of them and didn't want to be machine gunned to death.

This poll could be just another piece of propaganda as Canadians believe in polls so much.

It's official then. Canada's 'mission' in Afghanistan is a clear demonstration of our willingness to do charitable work abroad.

I guess that makes us really nice people.

Thanks for the poll CBC.

Please bring our troops home...so we can post them outside the Albertan Legislature and debate how best to nationalize our oil industry!

JWinTO and Jan hit the nail on the head. This is definitely not what the "liberal" minded folks at the CBC expected and they are now scrambling. As Greg said, it discredits their reporting. I think more specifically,it discredits their bias. I do listen to the CBC on a daily basis and tend to use it as a starting point for the news (I will get on the internet and research other points of view). I think they have some outstanding commentators and I definitely do not agree with all that is said. But it emphasizes the fact that there is a multiplicity of view points and it makes me think about my own position on the mission in Afghanistan. Maybe this poll will have the same effect on the CBC. Just possibly it may occur to them that we are doing something right over there. Could we do it better. Without a doubt. The bottom line at this time, however, is that we are there and our troops, the daughters, sons, spouses, brothers and sisters of Canadians are doing the best job they can and should be supported until they come home. They did not ask to go there. They were sent. Stop politicizing it and support Canada and Canadians.

"The Current" interviewed Matt Warshaw, the American managing Director at ACSOR-Surveys in Afghanistan (described on The Current as "a subsidiary of ‘D3 Systems’ in the United States") as well as their Afghani representative.

I have worked in polling for three levels of government and private industry and would argue this type of poll is worse than useless (worse in that it adds to the confusion if results are given any credence).

Most succinct in The Currents's discussion is this comment from Nelofer Pazira, an Afghan Canadian journalist and author who was last in Afghanistan in August that - especially rural - Afghans do not express their private opinions freely even among their fellow villagers, let alone what were described as university educated interviewers, presumably mostly from Kabul.

In my experience it is hard enough to get interviewers to follow your sampling plan and interview guidelines in Canada and the tendency to speak predominantly to people who aren't actually hostile to you, high enough here, would likely be off the chart in rural Afghanistan. Plus, my understanding is that there was - not surprisingly - no pre-prepared target respondent list so it was a question of approaching people or homes until someone agreed to be interviewed (the Afghani representative of ASCOR did mention a lot of turn-downs as well as interviews not counted in the final results). If this company has been interviewing previously, the only list they might have would be persons who were previously willing to be interviewed in other surveys.

Ms Pazira noted she was not especially surprised by the Kobul results on the presence of foreign troops as many there were never opposed to foreign troops (and likely some owe their employment or business to the influx or foreign money).

The interesting question may be at what level the decision to participate in this dubious survey was made at CBC as it seems like a lot of money for the increasingly budgetarily constrained network.

It's time to get out when the Government through the CBC resorts to Opinion Polls to bolster their support for "The Mission".
Let's put those new transport planes to good use and support our troops by saving our troops and get them out of there. Aghanistan will always be a quagmire. We cannot force democracy on them. They have to want it themselves.

The CBC Afghanistan poll

Having been professionally involved in the polling business for over 30 years, the "surprising" results of the Afghanistan poll undertaken by the CBC and Environics have left me fairly skeptical as to their validity. The poll reported that 60 per cent of Afghans surveyed believe the presence of foreign troops has been good for their country and that 51 per cent said they feel their country is headed in the right direction

The reason for my skepticism of these comforting results is rooted in the historical distrust of outsiders among many in Afghan society. Given that Afghanistan is in the midst of a war would make the distrust even greater. The pollsters however would have us believe that Afghan respondents were open and truthful during their face-to-face interviews. The justification used was that the interviewers were Afghani and were dressed in clothing not unlike that of respondents. This justification seems a bit thin to say the least. If nothing else Afghans are survivors and to survive they must employ all the intelligence and cunning at their disposal. They quickly surmised that the survey was not being conducted by the Taliban. Their responses were clearly tailored to the expectations of the other side -- us. Their strategic response was simply a manifestation of the well known and well documented phenomenon of interviewer bias in opinion surveys. In this context the results of the poll can hardly be deemed "surprising" .

The methodological description makes no mention of this possibility. Instead, it emphasizes the statistical process used in sample selection to ensure representivity. There is no discussion of the very real possibility that a statistically sound and representative sample may be completely undermined by interviewer affects the shield us from the true feelings and opinions of Afghans.
Oleh Iwanyshyn

I totally agree with Mr. Robt. Being an Afghan I have seen the situation on my country and Kandahar province (currently focal area of Canadian Mission in Afghanistan) during Taliban and after. There are siginificant changes and development that can be seen obviously. At least now the we can breathe in a libral environment.
If the country is evacuated by foriegn troops, it will fall back to the hands of Taliban and we will have to fall back to the hands of poverty and darkness.

I will be happy to see Canadian staying in Afghanistan for longer!

I am an Afghan and resident of Kandahar; I am working for Canadian International Development Agency.

I think Canada is contributing a lot to the development of Afghanistan and establishing sustainable and self-dependent government, especially to the peacekeeping and reconstruction of Kandahar.

The way the Canadian’s work throughout the country is appreciated by most of Afghan's I interact with:

·Canadians supports Afghans in their plans and puts it's efforts and strengths in areas the Afghan needs help.

·Canadians empowers Afghans to decide how Afghans would like to see their country in future and values Afghans thoughts and cultures, while working with them.

·Canadians insures that proper consultation has taken place with local residents of Afghanistan, before they implement any activity and insures that it is accepted within local contexts.

·The way the Canadian Military work is highly appreciated by local residents; they like the way the Canadian Military deal with them and find their behavior and attitude much better then the other international forces, which were controlling the areas before Canadians.

The government is week and it will be collapsed if international community stops supporting it; the terrorist groups and illegal militias are still more powerful then the current government, and if those illegal militia’s and terrorist groups are again in power, they will start killing all innocent afghans; as they do now in some parts of Kandahar Province; the day you decide not to support the current government of Afghanistan, the same day humanity will be killed and rights will be taken away from afghans to live violence free life.

Robt wrote; "We must stay in Afganistan until the democratically elected government has sufficent internal resources to keep out Al Qaida and the Taliban - even if it takes years."

"Even if it takes ten years"?

Obviously, Robt, you're not contributing almost half of your gross earnings to our government's revenue tax base, or you might be a little more critical about how your tax dollars are being spent.

Ask yourselves one question before you agree with our government's special interest financial commitments abroad; if this issue is so important, why isn't it a UN mandate?

I'll support our troops in Afghanistan under a UN flag. I support making lives of foreign nationals better, under a UN mandate. But I can’t support my government feeding the bureaucratic war-culture industrialist of North America, by letting Canadians accept the financial burdens of adopting the security of a vast foreign nation, a nation at civil war, for any extended period of time, especially when it’s at the cost and development of my own country’s social programs.

JWin To of Toronto

The poll may be bang on for all I know, but given that you worked for CBC and Environics on this poll, I'd suggest your opinion could easily have influenced what you did.

Hey, I'm not suggesting your or anyone else cooked the books, but when someone gets involved in polls such as this there is an expectation they aren't partisen.

Your comments about the "Laytonites" and Liberal supporters leave me wondering if you went into this on a specific mission.

I have no problem with journalists having opinions. It beats news from airheads any time.

ButI don't think journalism is served very well when polsters or those who work for them publicly declare their political bias as a means of defending their work.