We need to welcome our Afghan comrades-in-arms
By Letter to the Editor on August 4, 2021.
Editor:
It is time for Canada to invoke the name of St. Jude: the patron saint of the lost causes.
 In a recent issue, The British weekly Economist diagnosed that the coalition lost the war in Afghanistan and the Taliban will soon retake control of the country. Foreign troops are already moving out after 20 years of involvement. Canada moved out several years ago. 165 Canadians men and women gave their lives. Lives of Afghan friends and families who risked their lives to help Canadian troops are in danger as Talibans are gaining grounds rapidly. President Biden is planning to pull out his troops. Afghan women who had been emboldened by the idea of their rightful place in human society will face a serious regressive pressure to go back to the bad old days of theocracy. We must receive them into Canada without delay. Many of them were interpreters, guides, and people who provided essential services to Canadian troops.
Canada’s history is full of similar stories. The first was in the 18th century: the United Empire Loyalists were escaping the new republic south of the border. Canada, still under the British Crown, welcomed them into Upper Canada and Maritimes as our own. It was a hopeless cause fighting the fledgling United States of America.
Many of them were mercenaries, like 30,000 Germans from Hesse hired by King George III. My spouse is a descendant of those Hessians on her mother’s side. Many found refuge in the Pennsylvania Dutch or Deutsche colonies because of language. Some eventually found their way into Canada. The Loyalists, including Hessians, have formed an important component of English speaking Canada. Without them our country would have remained a country populated by Indigenous and Metis nations and settlers from France. French would have been the dominant language and with English would have been the language of a tiny minority.
There were four similar situations since the Second World War when Canada needed to invoke St. Jude: Hong Kong, Vietnam, Syria, and Afghanistan. People in those countries paid a heavy price for helping or being in alliance with Canada. It was our duty to pay back for their sacrifices. Thousands of them are settled in Canada, and now are a part of Canadian landscape. One of them became Canada’s Governor-General: Adrienne Clarkson.
Let us be grateful for the service of Afghan comrades-in-arms and welcome them into our midst.
Tadashi (Tad) Mitsui
Lethrbidge
-1
the “war” never should have included foreign troops. canada had absolutely no right to be there, and nor did the world’s most aggressive, democracy killing machine: the usa. the war crimes and crimes against humanity that took place in afghanistan – by so-called liberators – were many and abhorrent. and of course, none of the crimes committed by the invaders has been prosecuted…. as far as the canadian crimes, there was some movement to investigate at least the handing over prisoners to be tortured…hey, can you say prorogue? can you then say ‘fa-get-about-it?’ can you also say ‘fa-get-about’ the people we sent there to maim and kill, and to be maimed and killed, all for what amounted to yet another imperial (new world order) war?
the letter mentions adrienne clarkson – now there was a real beauty of a self entitled big spending full of herself waste of space.
Don’t mix up Afghanistan with Iraq. Iraq was wrong and there never should have been an invasion there. Afghanistan is different. Osama Bin Laden was living there and being sheltered by the Taliban so invading it was justified IMO. There was no actual government to stop terrorist from multiplying like rabbits and spreading their version of death around the world.
What is a crime is the terrible way the Canadian government is handling the process to get those who helped us out of that god forsaken country. Bureaucracy run amuck big time.
while we do not agree on the sending of cdns to fight in afghanistan, i appreciate your thoughts. i do question the idea of prosecuting a war there just because bin laden may have been living there. so many nations the world over could say much the same about the usa; name a president or members of his cabinet and you pretty much have a case for war due to their terrorist actions. i feel afghanistan and all other countries have the right to self determination. ask who is/has been the bigger terrorist on planet earth post ww2: the taliban, or the usa? in a no contest, i suggest it is the usa.
[…] We need to welcome our Afghan comrades-in-arms Tadashi Mitsui 4 August 2021 in the It is time for Canada to invoke the name of St. Jude: the patron saint of the lost causes. In a recent issue, The British weekly Economist diagnosed that the coalition lost the war in Afghanistan and the Taliban will soon retake control of the country. Foreign troops are already moving out after 20 years of involvement. Canada moved out several years ago. 165 Canadians men and women gave their lives. Lives of Afghan friends and families who risked their lives to help Canadian troops are in danger as Talibans are gaining grounds rapidly. Read more… […]