The Afghanistan mission is a UN endorsed NATO peacekeeping mission that has turned to a full combat mission now. NATO should have known that no foreign army has won in Afghanistan(yet) and the presence of NATO will be (and is) seen as 'haram' by the extremists.

NATO has done a good job so far, but the time has come for us to review our position. Haroon Siddiqui from Toronto Star has written a sensible article(something that he very seldom does, so you have to read it!) .

US, of all the countries should have better known about the Geographical politics, Socio-tribal politics and Narco politics of Afghanistan for their had a major role in creating it during the Soviet days in Afghanistan.

NATO now needs to look beyond its membership. It has to look into UN and Muslim peace keeper troops for an expanded role in Afghanistan. India, Pakistan and Iran would not send troops for they have played a major role in the Geographical politics of Afghanistan for decades. Bangladesh, Turkey and several other Muslim countries have played a major role in UN peace keeping and should now be engaged for Afghanistan for Security role, so that NATO can focus on Combat role engaging Taliban.

Narco-politics of Afghanistan is tricky, but the most important factor. These farmer know nothing but raising Opium plants worth billions of dollars in the international market. Unless support can be given to them to raise other cash crops, the easy lucrative Opium is here to stay. This is where NATO can step back and bring in support troops for combating Narco politics with a huge gush of funds to help these farmers and cut their links with Taliban.

Islamic countries and groups like OIC need to step up to the plate, that they have never , ever done. Simple criticism of NATO is not enough, including from those terror supporters in Canada. Islamic countries need to support UN to bring a stable democracy in Afghanistan.

NATO would not have needed to go to Afghanistan in the first place if OIC has intervened there instead of cheering for Taliban. Like the AU peace keeping force that we have now, Islamic countries should put together a strong Peacekeeping force to help in combat zones like Afghanistan and Iraq ,so that the foreign troops can cut down their numbers which these Islamic countries have been demanding.

Canada can not and should not leave Afghanistan and walk away. Manley's report was right in its analysis and I agree with Dion that we need to move to a security role from a full combat role. We need strong troops presence in Afghanistan to protect and support the aid and development activities there, but they don't necessarily need to be in combat mode as we are now.

Canada and NATO should partner with countries like Turkey and India for training of Afghan troops. Both countries are friends of NATO and have a long history in Afghanistan and most importantly experience in combat roles in similar terrains. India has a vast military training facilities, which is one of the biggest in the world that NATO has to engage. India is one of the biggest non NATO ally of Karzai (in fact the first country Karzai visited as president was India) and India had a tacit presence in Afghanistan pre 9/11 supporting the Northern Alliance against Taliban.

Building a strong Afghani armed force is critical to the long term stability of that region and NATO has to invest in it. This might sound ridiculous but Russia should be reached out to help in Afghanistan. No one else has better experience in modern time in that part of the world than Russia. The current conflict has to move from a NATO driven force to a NATO combat role with support from UN/Muslim countries/India,Turkey, Russia on other areas.

Of course we should not and can not forget the country with the largest influence in Afghanistan- Pakistan. CIA needs to engage ISI, the notorious pakistani Intelligence agency that is know to be protecting Mullah Omar and Osama in the Quetta area.

A JWG (Joint working Group) of this size will bring long term sustainable peace in Afghanistan and stability in the region, other wise NATO troops are doomed to stay there for ever.

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