Leaving Afghanistan behind
Legacy could be breakup of country
A former high-ranking Afghan official now living in Saskatoon says the legacy of the 12-year war could be the breakup of his native country.
“There was no rationale for (Canada) going there in the first place. There was no need,” Mustafa Mustaan, an Afghan commerce department officer now studying at the University of Saskatchewan, said.
Canadian soldiers left Afghanistan this week, and Saskatoon-area residents connected to the mission have mixed feelings about the withdrawal.
To some, Canada helped to protect the vulnerable, purge the country of extremists and strengthen its civil institutions. They’d hoped Canada’s commitment would last another five or 10 years.
“We tried to do good while we were there,” Warman’s Matthew Hrycuik, a veteran who trained Afghan army troops while there in 2008, said.
“We tried to make it sustainable so they’d be OK when we left.”
Mustaan said it was wrong for the Canadian government to give in to American pressure and commit troops. He said he feels sorry for the 158 Canadian soldiers killed and their families. Much of the billions spent by Canada’s military alone could have been far better spent on development or institution-building, he said.
Mustaan said he’s no fan of the former Taliban regime, but said large parts of Afghanistan are worse off now than before the 2001 invasion. He said the one good thing the Taliban did was disarm the population and local warlords. As Canada departs, the warlords are as strong as ever and have large followings of armed young men radicalized by the actions of Canada and other nations, he said.
“They bombed villages. They entered anyone’s home in the middle of the night. Many innocent people were killed,” he said.
When a militant was killed, there were usually civilian deaths or other destruction, which created even more anger and extremism, he said.
In 2010, Mustaan was commissioned to write a report on the most likely outcomes of the war. His report, presented to Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s chief of staff, predicted the possible breakup of the country.
The more stable northern provinces will remain, while the warlord-ruled, increasingly chaotic south will separate, and that could create renewed waves of sectarian violence for millions of people, “just like Somalia,” he said.
Canada and other countries focused on their military objectives at the expense of common sense, while they could have negotiated a peace years ago, or shifted some of the military spending to proper institution-building, he said.
“Essentially, there was no real plan,” he said.
When Mustaan publicized his findings and appeared on Afghan radio programs, he faced immediate threats. His Facebook page was filled with references to Mustaan and his family “going to heaven” if they stayed.
He fled with several relatives to Saskatoon, but keeps in touch with colleagues and hopes to return one day.
As for Hrycuik, he felt he was able to do some good while stationed there for more than seven months. He’d patrol the countryside with the Afghan soldiers he was training.
He’s been home for six years, but an incident with an improvised explosive device still causes problems for his back and hip. The 27-year-old continues to deal with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, and said he can no longer hold down a full-time job.
Still, Hryciuk said he’s proud to have served.
“Our personal cost was high, but we knew that going in,” he said.
“We were at war, but we did a lot of good. I don’t know how it will end up.”