Editorial

Hard times ahead for our troops

The shooting death of an innocent Afghani man by nervous Canadian troops in Kandahar last week seems, unfortunately, to be a sign of bad things to come. While the man’s family mourns, and the Canadian forces feel extreme regret, the Taliban fanatics will be grinning from ear to ear.
Oh yes. Turning the benevolent peacekeepers into hated occupiers – ‘crusaders’ is the preferred Taliban term – is exactly what the fanatics want. And they don’t seem to care how many of their own people have to die to get the point across.
Afghanistan might be a quite different place than Iraq, with a different history, culture and aspirations. Certainly the central government is happy to have the Canadian troops there, working to keep the peace while efforts to rebuild the domestic security system continue.
The Canadian troops, of course, couldn’t be further from ‘crusaders.’ They’re providing security while a country that was at one sort of war or another more or less continuously from 1980 through 2002 can get itself back into shape. Do that and get out without being blown up and it’ll be a good few months work. Or few years. Decades?
But the people recruiting the suicide bombers apparently don’t want Afghanistan rebuilt on any terms but their own. When they send cars packed with explosives into the midst of Canadian military convoys, it forces the Canadians to adopt a shoot first, ask questions later attitude. When a car came too close yesterday and blew up your jeep, you aren’t going to give the next one the benefit of the doubt. That’s exactly what the hardline guys hiding back in the mountains want.
So, inevitably, innocent people get shot. Positive contact between the Canadian troops and the locals becomes less and less due to the risks. Good will shrivels and dies.
Last week, the Taliban vowed that Afghan soil would run red with the blood of the occupiers. If blood flows, most of it will probably come from Afghan bystanders. But if it serves the purpose of turning the populace against the foreign troops, the Taliban will have achieved one of its objectives.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Canadian Troops in Afghanistan last week, showing support for their efforts and confirming Canada’s commitment for as long as it takes. No one can predict how long that might be. That it will be difficult and bloody is unfortunately much easier to predict.

Push on for trades
It’s strange to think of construction projects being held up or even canceled due to a lack of tradespeople. Yet that’s what might happen in Alberta given the deficit in the trades.
Part of the message at a trades information session in Slave Lake last week was that students should consider the trades as an alternative to university. But is it really the lure of university that’s keeping students from choosing the trades?
We think not.
For starters, how many students in Slave Lake who start Grade 1 never finish Grade 12? Half? University isn’t wooing them away from the trades. How many who do graduate go to university? Not many.
A lot of young people drift into the trades anyway, whether they finish high school or not – or whether they start university or not. But it still isn’t nearly enough. The number of jobs in booming Alberta defies the imagination. It’s good to know the opportunities are out there, but you can’t force people to buckle down and take the training.