News

To view this video you need to upgrade your Flash Player

Download Flash Player from the Adobe website.

Afghanistan will be a viable state by the time Canadian Forces depart in 2011, says Canada's outgoing ambassador, but Pakistan must do more to tackle security issues at the shared border and to rein in its notorious Inter-Service Intelligence Agency.

Arif Lalani said yesterday “we need to keep the pressure on Pakistan” to take border management issues seriously, improve local governance and security.

“There is often frustration not with [Pakistan's] civilian government but with the ISI, “ he said in a meeting with The Globe and Mail's editorial board. “We need to have the Pakistani government take a more comprehensive approach.”

Pakistan has officially been an ally in the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. However, Afghan president Hamid Karzai has accused the ISI, a branch of the Pakistani army responsible for intelligence, of openly supporting the Taliban, and of plotting spectacular attacks in his country, including an attempt on his life and an embassy bombing in Kabul.

Mr. Lalani praised Pakistan's Interior Ministry chief, who vowed Monday that his country would use force against the Afghan extremists based in the tribal area that straddles both countries.

“Pakistan needs to change its calculation. Today is a good sign,” said Mr. Lalani, 40, who just finished a 15-month posting in Kabul.

Overall, he said the Canadian mission in Afghanistan is succeeding – despite a “tough and deadly summer” of fighting.

By 2011, when Canada's commitment in Kandahar ends, there will be a “viable state,” he predicted. “Now we are maintaining the status quo. When we end, we want Afghans to hold the status quo and build on it,” said Mr. Lalani, who has also served in Jordan and Iraq and was awarded a medal for distinguished service from the Karzai government.

He acknowledged that sometimes it is difficult to define success, with almost daily attacks on soldiers and civilians by Taliban fighters, including the freeing of almost all the prisoners at the Sarpoza prison in Kandahar City in June.

However, he said Canadians must also understand that there have been a number of advances in education, health, infrastructure and even security. There are more than six million children – including girls – going to school and nearly 80 per cent of the population able to access basic health services. Thousands of children have been immunized for polio. Thousands of Afghans, many of them women, have started small businesses through a micro-finance program.

As well, the Afghan National Army is now 88,000 strong (the goal is 133,000). Challenges remain, including training and professionalizing the police force, which has 60,000 officers and needs 25,000 more. Mr. Lalani believe the international community should develop a rapid deployment police force, which could help train and advise police recruits. Presently, 25 Canadian police officers are assisting with this task, but few other foreign countries contribute officers to EUPOL, the European policing mission in Afghanistan.

The Taliban will continue their offensive in an attempt to destabilize the country in advance of presidential elections, scheduled for 2009, predicted Mr. Lalani.

“The Taliban is throwing everything it has at us and... we should expect a tough year ahead,” he said.