Our main recommendations

Canada should develop an Aid & Security Action Plan (ASAP) for Kandahar, focusing on targeted humanitarian aid and enhanced medical treatment capacity through mobile field hospitals, a rebuilt and re-furbished Mirwais Hospital and medical training programmes. Food aid and medical aid will directly improve the relationships with the Afghan people in Kandahar and will positively affect the security mission in the province. Emergency poverty relief should be a priority for the Canadian mission. Given the dire humanitarian situation and negative security environment in Kandahar, the Canadian Government should immediately empower the Canadian military to secure the delivery of Canada-funded food aid and other supplies to Kandahar’s people. Where there are no local or international aid organisations present, the Canadian soldiers should be involved in the actual delivery of humanitarian aid.




Canada should play a leading role within NATO to create a new balance between military and humanitarian efforts within the stabilisation strategy for Afghanistan. Economic-focused humanitarian interventions should be placed at the core of military planning as a way to pursue an effective hearts and minds strategy. The core challenge is to show the people that the international community is addressing their most basic needs. So far, the failure to do so has given the Taliban a strategic advantage over international troops. A focus on economic humanitarian aid will defuse tensions and create support for the international presence and the central government within rural communities. It will also reduce the growing control that the Taliban exert over those communities, making the troops’ missions safer.

The following issues should inter alia be discussed as part of the agenda of the emergency NATO meeting:

Ways to further increase the non-military role of ISAF forces in terms of humanitarian aid delivery and short-term impact of development;

Increased burden sharing among NATO and non-NATO countries, and the lifting of national caveats on troop deployments;

Ways to double ISAF troops to 80,000 including more non-NATO troops and troops from Muslim countries;

The necessity for NATO to operate in the border regions on Pakistani territory to be able to effectively combat the Taliban insurgency and thwart their logistical and recruiting operations;

Ways for NATO to influence the Afghan Government and international community in order to develop and implement sound counter-narcotics measures that are compatible with NATO’s stabilisation, reconstruction and hearts and minds mission.

Increased incidents involving civilian casualties, primarily in bombing raids, have predictably proven to be detrimental in winning the support and trust of the Afghan people, and have caused enormous suffering for the people of Kandahar. We must adopt a policy of zero civilian casualties. Air strikes must be limited to those instances where the objective is well defined and civilians will not be victimised. The deployment of highly skilled military paramedics must be implemented immediately in southern Afghanistan. These paramedics would locate, transport, and stabilize casualties of war in liaison with the armed forces and should also be used to train Afghan women and men as future paramedics.




Canada should establish clear objectives and corresponding measures of success for its humanitarian, stabilisation and reconstruction work in Afghanistan and should make both its troop commitment and a future end date of its mission dependent on measurable progress in these fields. Key indicators should include health-care, education, and training of ANA/ANP. Canada should stay in Afghanistan until the job is done. To leave before then, can easily be seen as a manifestation of the West’s ‘disposable’ and arrogant attitude toward the people of Afghanistan, a fickle abandonment of our “most significant foreign policy endeavour”, and a sad commentary on the value of the Canadian lives already sacrificed.



Canada must take a leadership role in support of President Karzai against chemical spraying of poppy crops. Chemical spraying of poppy growing areas would be disastrous for the Canadian hearts and minds mission. An opinion poll conducted in August 2007 by Ipsos Reid showed that 82 per cent of the Canadian public opposed chemical spraying.1 54 per cent opposed forced crop eradication altogether. Canada should support the implementation of a scientific Poppy for Medicine pilot project in Kandahar province to investigate the positive benefits of local morphine production on farming communities´ security and development. The Ipsos Reid opinion poll further showed that 79 per cent of Canadians support a Poppy for Medicine pilot projects and 70 per cent thinks Prime Minister Harper should support this short-term economic development tool. At the same time Canada should invest further in alternative livelihoods and diversification of the rural economy.

The European Parliament recently adopted a Recommendation to the Council of the European Union endorsing a scientific pilot project to further investigate the possibilities for strictly- controlled morphine production in Afghanistan.2 The Parliament also expressed the Europe-wide consensus that chemical spraying of poppy crops should not be implemented in the war-ravaged country.




The Canadian Government should do more to empower Canadian citizens to help Afghanistan. For this purpose, it should build on its “Canada Corps” initiative and broaden this approach with a proper infrastructure that allows Canadian individuals and aid organisations to maximise their role and impact in the Afghan reconstruction and development process. Stimulating help programmes and professional exchanges between Canadians and Afghans will not only increase mutual understanding, but will also empower more Canadians to directly provide support to communities in Kandahar, creating stronger popular support for a difficult but necessary mission. The Canadian Government should also investigate ways to encourage private investment by Canadian entities, for example through a system of tax credits.