RORY MACLEAN
News Editor

Jean McCardle wants you to believe in the Afghanistan mission.

The senior development advisor for the Canadian International Development Agency has worked for several years in Kandahar, Afghanistan — which Canada is responsible for — coordinating the government’s efforts to rebuild and improve the province, which has been plagued by decades of armed conflict.

Canada entered the war in Afghanistan at the request of the United States in order to assist in finding Osama Bin Laden. Since then, however, the focus of the mission has largely turned to one of peace building and development.

This has brought about a unique situation, says McCardle — civilian groups like CIDA are now co-operating with military groups at an unprecedented level.

“We’ve had such a large number of civilians working in collaboration with military on development,” she said.

“We have been through a civilianization process, where the highest ranking civilian now has equal rank to the Canadian commander.”

This means the senior development advisor now has access to all the high level meetings, she said.

McCardle is currently touring Canada as part of the government’s Afghanistan 360 project, which was created to promote the government’s development projects in the country. The Afghanistan 360 display can be viewed at the University of Saskatchewan in the Diefenbaker Centre until March 14.

The Canadian government has three flagship projects in Kandahar: the Dahla Dam and irrigation system, polio eradication and education in Kandahar.

“They were deemed to be the most important things for us to do at the time, the three things that would have the most positive impact on the population,” she said.

The projects are necessary to “get the economy going again, to get the children healthy and to get the schools open,” she said.

Canada has committed to investing up to $50 million in the Dahla Dam project. The dam has been in disrepair for years. This will provide farmers with irrigated land and should generate up to 10,000 seasonal jobs, according to a Government of Canada press release.

On the education front, Canada has committed $12 million to build, expand or repair 50 schools in Kandahar. Currently, only 16 per cent of Kandaharis are literate — 26 per cent of men and 5 per cent of women.

“Over the last two years there are 10,000 more kids in school,” she said.

Another major project is to eliminate polio in Afghanistan. Southern Afghanistan, where Kandahar is located, has the highest national incidence of the virus.

According to McCardle, Canada has had to push back the expected finishing date of the polio and the Dahla Dam efforts.

“Because it’s been so insecure,” she said.

McCardle bristles at the notion that it’s a contradiction to have a war that essentially revolves around development.

This sentiment echoes state officials, who now place less emphasis on the justification of the conflict as a war on terrorism in favour of emphasizing the development projects. The Afghanistan 360 project is just one facet of this campaign.

On a December visit to Saskatoon, Defence Minister Peter McKay emphasized Canada’s development role in Afghanistan, saying the Canadian military is there because the democratically elected government of Afghanistan has asked them to be there.

On the ubiquitous poppy crops, the government has been trying to get farmers to switch to wheat.

Although poppy is one of the most profitable crops in the country, the price of wheat on the global market has been increasing, said McCardle.

“We have provided (about) 2,000 farmers in each of the six key districts (of Kandahar) with wheat seed. It’s really hard to know exactly what impact that has, but obviously the hope and intent is that it will be planted. You just don’t know what the impact directly is.”

– –
photo: ISAF Public Affairs / Flickr