My cousin was in Afghanistan until about mid-November. Back in October, he was in one of the armoured vehicles that blew-up.

But that’s the price we have to pay to help a country to get rid of a subversive invasion that is extremely threatening for the stability of the region if not the world. And no, I am not a coward that safely posts from his house; I *DID* apply for a civilian job in Kandahar for NATO, fully ready to go there.

Back in the 1950’s, we would have been very glad to have an army come and liberate us from the talibans who were running our lives, and keeping us backwards. It is definitely the same for Afghanistan.

And the yankees are better not to lose that was; they are the ones who created the talibans in the first place. So they have to clean their own mess.

Regarding the mortality rate, if only the media was doing the same coverage it gives every dead soldier (and presumably, journalist) for every road fatality, people would see the proper perspective.

I view it as no different from the risk of death by impact with tons of steel hurled at great speed.

Back in the early 1950’s, the US military discovered that the leading cause of death amongst soldiers wasn’t the war in Korea, but automobile accidents. So they did a study about the safety of automobiles, which eventually turned into “unsafe at any speed”. Nuff said.

However unlike others I believe Canada and other countries need to remain there. Imagine what will befall the civilians as soon as we leave. The Taliban will rise up again and repress the people a hell of a lot more than they ever did. Amazes me how on the one hand we say that countries need to respect human rights and then we turn around and say we need to leave a country where the previous rulers would repress their people to that degree. Shame on us.....