Canada and Afghanistan

Canada in Afghanistan: In Other People’s Home and Native Land

Film: RETHINK AFGHANISTAN (75 minutes)

(2) Lee WINDSOR, David CHARTERS, and Brent WILSON
Kandahar Tour: The Turning Point in Canada’s Afghan Mission (Wiley, 2008) – Ch. 1, “The Road to Kandahar,” 1-29 [New Imperialism course pack on reserve]

(3) Lucia KOWALUK and Steven STAPLES, editors
Afghanistan and Canada: Is There an Alternative to War? (Black Rose Books, 2009) – “Canada’s Role in the Occupation of Afghanistan” (By Échec À La Guerre), 71-116 [New Imperialism course pack on reserve]

(4) James LAXER
Mission of Folly: Canada and Afghanistan (Between the Lines, 2008) – Ch. 8, “This War is Not About Human Rights,” 93-109 [New Imperialism course pack on reserve]

Additional Resources:

Anti-war Canada:

• Échec à la Guerre
• Stop War: Blogging Canada’s War in Afghanistan

Afghanistan Elections:

• Annotated News Links: Afghan Elections 2009. By Maximilian Forte
• Demonstration Elections (Edward S. Herman)
• This Fraud Is On You: The 2009 Afghan Elections and the U.N. Cover Up
• Polling Day Fraud in the Afghan Elections (2009). By the Afghanistan Analysts Network
• How to Win an Afghan Election. By the Afghanistan Analysts Network
• Videos: Afghanistan Elections 2009 on Zero Anthropology TV

Books on Canada in Afghanistan (apart from those assigned):

• Canada in Afghanistan: The War So Far. By Peter Pigott. In Google Books.
• Contact Charlie: The Canadian Army, the Taliban and the Battle That Saved Afghanistan. By Chris Wattie. Key Porter Books, 2008. ISBN 1554700841, 9781554700844.
• Kandahar Tour: The Turning Point In Canada’s Afghan Mission. By Lee Windsor, David Charters, and Brent Wilson. Wiley, 2010. ISBN 978-0470157619.
• Outside the Wire: The War in Afghanistan in the Words of Its Participants. Edited by Kevin Patterson and Jane Warren. Vintage Canada, 2008. ISBN 978-0307356314.

• Related: Guantanamo North: Terrorism and the Administration of Justice in Canada. By Robert Diab.978-1552662793. Fernwood, 2009. ISBN

Documents and Papers:

• Afghanistan-Pakistan Panel, Center for a New American Security: Andrew Exum, Nathaniel Flick, Andrew Bacevich
• The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and OtherGlobal War on Terror Operations Since 9/11. By the U.S. Congressional Research Service
• At What Cost? Contingency Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Interim Report to Congress. Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, June 2009
• Casualties in Afghanistan
• The Cowboys of Kabul
• Kabul: A Luxurious Hidden Paradise
• Afghanistan by the Numbers: Measuring the Success of a War Gone to Hell. By Tom Engelhardt.
• Afghanistan: Politics, Government Formation and Performance. By Kenneth Katzman, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs. U.S. Congressional Research Service, June 26, 2009
• General Stanley McChrystal’s Afghanistan Assessment: leaked to the press
• Photos of U.S. mercenaries assigned to protect the U.S. Embassy in Kabul: partying
• Winning Hearts and Minds? Examining the Effectiveness of Aid as a Stabilization Tool in Afghanistan. Andrew Wilder, Feinstein International Center, Tufts University (ppt slides)
• Afghan Analyst Bibliography
• Rory Stewart, “The Irresistible Illusion,” London Review of Books, 31 (13) July 9 2009: 3-6.
• Bill Moyers Journal: Interview with Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea, on building schools for girls in Afghanistan – January 15, 2010 (video and transcript)
• Bill Moyers Journal: Interview with Rory Stewart, director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, lays out an alternate strategy for the international community in Afghanistan – September 24, 2009 (video and transcript)
• Troop boost in Afghanistan ‘a mistake’ (Sending more troops into Afghanistan would make the situation even worse, an organisation representing aid groups in the country says). ABC, 20 October 2010.
• Photo Essay: “Once Upon a Time in Afghanistan…” Mohammad Qayoumi, Foreign Policy, 27 May 2010.
• “Causes and Consequences of the Destabilization of Afghanistan,” by M. Jamil Hanifi, Zero Anthropology, 12 July 2010.
• “What Caused the Collapse of the State Infrastructure of Afghanistan?,” by M. Jamil Hanifi, Zero Anthropology, 25 July 2009.
• “Is TIME’s Afghan ‘cover girl’ really a victim of mutilation by the Taleban?” by M. Jamil Hanifi, Zero Anthropology, 05 August 2010.
• “In Afghanistan It’s Now All About the Little Girls,” by Maximilian Forte, Zero Anthropology, 09 August 2009.
• “Afghanistan’s Little Girls on the Front Line, Part 2,” by M. Jamil Hanifi, Zero Anthropology, 17 August 2009.
• “The ‘Dirty Secrets’ that Purify a Dirty War: A Colonial Tale of Dancing Boys, a Journalist, and the Human Terrain System in Afghanistan,” by M. Jamil Hanifi and Maximilian Forte, Zero Anthropology, 07 September 2010.
• “Afghanistan: The Imperial Occupation’s Own Dancing Boys,” by Maximilian Forte, Zero Anthropology, 28 December 2010.
• “Marjeh, Afghanistan: X-ray of McChrystal’s Bleeding Ulcer,” by Maximilian Forte, Zero Anthropology, 27 June 2010.
• “The Killing Fields of Marja,” by M. Jamil Hanifi, Zero Anthropology, 06 July 2010.
• “Taliban ready to lift ban on girls’ schools, says minister,” by Jon Boone, The Guardian, 13 January 2011.

Government of Canada:

• Canada’s Engagement in Afghanistan
• Dept. of Foreign Affairs & International Trade: Afghanistan
• Joint Task Force Afghanistan
• National Defence and the Canadian Forces
• Report: Canadian Forces in Afghanistan. Report of the Standing Committee on National Defence, June 2007 (pdf)

• Related: CBC News In Depth – The controversy over detainees

Militarizing Civilian Development Aid:

• Analysis: Rising threat to aid agencies in Afghanistan. William Dowell, Global Post, September 18, 2009
• Mixing Fighting and Food in Afghanistan. Kevin Baron, Stars and Stripes, September 15, 2009
• The Militarization of Afghan Aid: The most dangerous threat to “winning hearts and minds” in Afghanistan could be the counterinsurgency itself. Anna Husarska, Foreign Policy, July 31, 2009
• Civil Military Overview (U.S. plans for aligning civilian NGOs to military planning)

NATO, UN in Afghanistan:

• NATO’s role in Afghanistan
• NATO-ISAF: International Security Assistance Force
• NATO’s Master Narrative: cracked by Wikileaks
• UNAMA: United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan

News sites focus on Afghanistan:

• BBC News: Afghanistan
• BBC News: UK troops in Afghanistan
• CBC News: Crossroads Afghanistan
• CTV News: Canada in Afghanistan
• Foreign Policy: The AfPak Channel
• Global Post: Life, Death, and the Taliban
• The Guardian (UK): Afghanistan news
• The New York Times’ Afghanistan news
• The Telegraph (UK): Afghanistan news
• The Times (UK): Afghanistan news
• Washington Post’s Afghanistan news
• Yahoo! Afghanistan News

Opinion Polls: Afghanistan

• Poll: More Afghans say insurgents are justified, Associated Press, 06 December 2010
• ABC NEWS/BBC/ARD POLL – AFGHANISTAN: WHERE THINGS STAND, Feb. 9, 2009: “Support for U.S. Efforts Plummets Amid Afghanistan’s Ongoing Strife”
• Afghan Public Opinion and the Afghan War: A breakout of the data in the ABC News Poll, by the Center for Strategic & International Studies
• Afghanistan Public Opinion Survey:July 16-26, 2009. By the International Republican Institute

Opinion Polls: Citizens in the West against the war in Afghanistan

International:

• Overview: International Public Opinion on the War in Afghanistan

United States:

• CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. Dec. 17-19, 2010–“Do you favor or oppose the U.S. war in Afghanistan?”–Oppose: 63%
• Poll: Assessment of Afghanistan War Sours: ABC News/Washington Post Poll: Record Six in 10 Say it’s ‘Not Worth Fighting,’ 16 December 2010
• U.S. Public divided on troop increase in Afghanistan: poll | Reuters
• Afghanistan Public Opinion Poll: ABC News, 10 April 2009
• Poll Shows US Isolationist Sentiment Growing | VOA News
• Poll: Americans pessimistic about Afghan war | Press TV
• 58% of Americans oppose the war in Afghanistan | CNN
• Most Americans see Afghan fight worth US bloodshed: poll
• Polling Analysis: Afghanistan 2009 Vs. Iraq 2007 | CBS
• CBS News Polls on Afghanistan

Canada:

• Canadians Divided on Afghanistan Mission, Angus Reid, 24 February 2010
• Half Would Support Civilian Mission in Afghanistan Beyond 2011 | Harris-Decima, Oct. 22, 2009
• Leger Marketing poll September 22-25, 2009 – Canadians Massively Want Canada to Stop Combating in Afghanistan (see p. 15)
• 55% of Canadians opposed to mission in Afghanistan | Rape law saps support for Afghan mission, poll finds | Apr. 8, 2009
• Half of Canadians Would End Afghan Mission | Angus-Reid, Mar. 9, 2009
• Almost Half of Canadians Would End Afghanistan Mission Before 2011 | Angus-Reid Poll, Mar. 7, 2009
• 65% of Canadians say “no” to keeping troops in Afghanistan should Obama request it | Feb. 13, 2009
• 55% of Canadians say “no” to keeping troops in Afghanistan should Obama request it | Jan. 19, 2009
• 54% of Canadians oppose the war in Afghanistan (also here)
• Support for Afghan Mission Drops in UK, Canada (also here, from Angus-Reid)
• More Canadians Oppose Afghanistan Extension (58% against the extension to 2011) | Angus-Reid, Jul. 10, 2008
• 56% of Canadians oppose sending troops to Afghanistan | Strategic Counsel – Globe & Mail – CTV, Jan. 14, 2008 (p. 22)
• 59% of Canadians oppose sending troops to Afghanistan | Strategic Counsel – Globe & Mail – CTV, July 16, 2007 (p. 9)
• 55% of Canadians oppose sending troops to Afghanistan | Strategic Counsel – Globe & Mail – CTV, May 18, 2007 (p. 10)
• Canadians Want Troops Out of Afghanistan | Angus-Reid Poll, Apr. 26, 2007
• 57% of Canadians oppose sending troops to Afghanistan | Strategic Counsel – Globe & Mail – CTV, Apr. 25, 2007 (p. 6)
• Canada: CBC-Environics public issues poll, 2006
• 53% of Canadians oppose sending troops to Afghanistan | Strategic Counsel – Globe & Mail – CTV, Oct. 16, 2006 (p. 13)
• 49% of Canadians oppose sending troops to Afghanistan | Strategic Counsel – Globe & Mail – CTV, Sep. 18, 2006 (p. 6)
• 55% of Canadians oppose sending troops to Afghanistan | Strategic Counsel – Globe & Mail – CTV, Aug. 14, 2006
• 56% of Canadians oppose sending troops to Afghanistan | Strategic Counsel – Globe & Mail – CTV, July 18, 2006 (p. 10)
• 54% of Canadians oppose sending troops to Afghanistan | Strategic Counsel – Globe & Mail – CTV, May 5, 2006 (p. 10)
• 55% of Canadians support sending troops to Afghanistan, 70% believe that Canadian Forces are engaged in peacekeeping in Afghanistan and not combat | Strategic Counsel – Globe & Mail – CTV, March, 2006 (p. 8-15)

U.K.:

• Poll shows most Britons oppose war in Afghanistan | Reuters
• 64% of Britons believe the Afghan war is unwinnable
• UK: War in Afghanistan: Not in our name – 71% of Britons back IoS call for withdrawal of forces within a year
• Support for Afghan Mission Drops in UK, Canada (also here, from Angus-Reid)
• UK: Most remain against Afghan war

Germany, Australia:

• More than 60% of Germans want withdrawal from Afghanistan | Spiegel
• 56% of Australians do not support the war in Afghanistan
• Australia: War in Afghanistan splits the nation

Europe:

• Majority of Europeans oppose escalation of the war in Afghanistan: Transatlantic Trends Survey, German Marshall Fund, pages 14-15

Oxfam (UK) Reports on Afghanistan:

• The Cost of War: Afghan experiences of conflict, 1978-2009 – November 2009
• Caught in the Conflict: Civilians and the international security strategy in Afghanistan – April 2009
• Afghanistan: development and humanitarian priorities – January 2008
• Oxfam submission to UK government inquiry on Afghanistan – November 2007
• Afghanistan’s crisis is far from over – January 2002

Provincial Reconstruction Team:

• Wikipedia
• Canada: Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team

The Taliban:

• The Taliban widen their presence in Afghanistan: International Council on Security and Development: see maps for Afghanistan, in particular this one.
• Embedded with the Taliban: An Interview with Anand Gopaul. Ron Jacobs, CounterPunch, September 3, 2009
• How We Lost the War We Won: A journey into Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Nir Rosen, Rolling Stone, October 30, 2008
• Exclusive: Embedded with the Taliban. FRANCE 24 International News, September 12, 2008
• Global Post: Life, Death, and the Taliban
• Videos: from Zero Anthropology TV
• YouTube Channel

• Related: Col. Kurtz’s Anthropological Understanding
• Related: Talal Asad’s On Suicide Bombing, in Google Books

Visual Intelligence: IED Attacks from Wikileaks’ Afghan War Diary

Women’s rights:

• Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)
• Laura Bush on Afghan Women, VOA News, 06 April 2005
• Feminist Majority Foundation: Campaign for Afghan Women & Girls
• The Feminist Hawks. By Virginia Heffernan, The New York Times Magazine, August 19, 2009
• Why Is a Leading Feminist Organization Lending Its Name to Support Escalation in Afghanistan? By Sonali Kolhatkar and Mariam Rawi, AlterNet, July 8, 2009
• Pentagon Enlists Feminists for War Aims. By Tom Hayden, Huffington Post, July 18, 2009
• Bombs will kill women in Afghanistan. Rethink Afghanistan
• McChrystal Digs In, Afghan Women Say Get Out. Rethink Afghanistan
• Remember the Women? By Ann Jones, The Nation, October 21, 2009
• Finger-wagging won’t help Muslim women. By Geraldine Brooks, The Guardian, August 28, 2009
• Only Muslims can change their society: The US invasion of Afghanistan had nothing to do with its women – change in Islamic nations must come from within. By Asma Barlas, The Guardian, August 25, 2009
• Afghanistan’s Little Girls on the Front Line, Part 2
• In Afghanistan It’s Now All About the Little Girls
• M. Jamil Hanifi: Engineering Division, Instability, and Regime Change with Naheed, Neda, and Allah
• NATO and Afghanistan’s Shia Marriage Law: The Collapse of a Master Narrative