The Mark 2010

Canada and the West have good reasons to be fighting the Taliban beyond spreading democracy and upholding human rights.

News that the U.S. Geological Survey had discovered a motherlode of minerals in Afghanistan worth $1 trillion was only a few hours old when the conspiracy theorists started coming out of the woodwork.

At the website Abovetopsecret, commenter SLAYER69 wrote: "Somehow this doesn't surprise me. Outside of the poppy fields and oil pipeline routes there had to be something that was more valuable in the region. I'm surprised they released this info. I doubt that this is actually a new discovery. It was probably known for years."

Well, so what if it was known for years? Not that I actually believe the implied conspiracy that the minerals were the reason for the original takedown of the Taliban (Perhaps SLAYER69 is aware of a certain incident that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001?), but what precisely would be wrong with foreign mining companies making profits and giving thousands, potentially tens of thousands, of Afghans useful employment? What’s wrong with high-paying jobs for Afghans that don’t involve farming poppies or planting IEDs along ISAF convoy routes?

All of the countries involved in the international mission in Afghanistan, not least of which the host nation, owe a long-overdue explanation to their diverse citizenry as to why this mission matches so well with pure, naked self-interest.

Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae gets the enthusiastic salute of the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee for throwing the gauntlet down at Prime Minister Harper’s feet upon his return from Kandahar.

Rae is calling the Conservatives out to at least discuss a Canadian role with some military component beyond 2011 – something that should have been publicly debated years ago. He’s done so from a pragmatic standpoint, talking about humanitarian concerns and institution building. This is to be lauded, and sure beats the hell out of the previous Liberal line on Afghanistan, which seemed to focus all talk on detainees and the possible complicity of the Canadian Forces in war crimes (which allegedly began while the Liberals were still the government).

But these lofty and admirable motivations will only go so far in convincing a war-weary public. As a self-interested and inward-looking Joe Blow Canuck might say, human rights are nice, but what’s the shiny new democracy of Afghanistan done for me lately, bub?

Well, how about this? Ever since the Taliban got turfed out of office by American daisy cutters from above and horseback riding Northern Alliance fighters on the ground, Al Qaeda hasn’t been able to use Afghanistan as a base to attack our cities.

Critics will point out that the bad guys are still using places like Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and the odd apartment in Denver, Colorado.

But that isn’t an argument against finishing the job in Afghanistan. On the contrary, it’s an argument for building on our successes and taking down the rest of the terrorist enclaves in failed states, as well as those in middle-of-nowhere, USA.

Other critics will say that the cost of keeping the boys in the black turbans on the run just isn’t worth it. Way more people die from car accidents than terrorist bombs. Besides, if we stay out of their countries, won’t they just leave us alone?

Again, let’s look at it from the perspective of our pocketbook. We’ve just come through a bitch of an economic meltdown. Many of us are still hurting pretty bad. So how do you think it’s going to affect the world economy if the Taliban wins in Afghanistan and an endless stream of “martyrs” the world over are emboldened to carry out even more brazen terror attacks than they do now?

There have been nearly 15,500 attacks since 9-11, only counting those that have received media coverage. What if that number doubled or tripled? Just a few successful attacks approaching the scale of a 9-11 could knock us into yet another recession. Irrationally fearful shareholders and shell-shocked executives have failed us before and there’s every expectation that if the bad guys manage some serious mayhem, our balance sheets and bank accounts are going to take a beating again.

If we want to live in freedom and with a standard of living we’ve come to expect in the West, the international community needs to hold the line in Afghanistan – and that goes for Karzai’s gaffe-prone, inviting-the-Taliban-for-tea administration too. If Afghans want to capitalize on this newly discovered treasure trove of mineral riches, the Taliban will have to go. So keeping up the fight against the Taliban is a bare minimum.

And by the way, if we do manage to educate and emancipate millions of Afghans while upholding the universality of human rights, well, that’s a good thing too.