Peace activists demand Canada leave Afghanistan

OTTAWA — Precious lives and scarce dollars are being wasted on the futile war in Afghanistan, peace activists cried out during marches and rallies across the country on Saturday.

Dozens of anti-war activists paraded onto Parliament Hill to demand an end to Canada's Afghan mission, part of a national day of action organized by peace groups that object to the human and financial costs of the bloody conflict.

Khalid Nasery was born in strife-torn Afghanistan and now calls Canada home.

The 28-year-old Ottawa student said it's time for Canadian soldiers to leave his native country, painting the troops as pawns of U.S. foreign policy.

"They should pull out of Afghanistan," he said. "It's not the soldiers' fault. I'm not against the soldiers, because they just follow orders. It's the politicians who want to please the Bush administration."

Among Canadian ranks, the effort has claimed the lives of 97 soldiers, a diplomat and two aid workers.

Nasery said that for every soldier who dies, many more civilians perish. "So on both sides, it's a lose-lose situation."

A report on the cost of the Afghan mission released earlier this month said that taxpayers will shell out between $14 billion and $18 billion - and possibly more - by the time troops are withdrawn in 2011.

"What we've seen is billions provided to the military and only a small amount to the local needs of Afghanistan," said Dylan Penner, an organizer with the Ottawa Peace Alliance. "And the reality is that what little does go beyond the military is going to a select few."

Sophie Harkat, whose husband Mohamed faces deportation on a national security certificate, was emcee of the Parliament Hill rally.

Demonstrations are being held this weekend in about 15 cities.

A few dozen protesters held signs with slogans like Aid not Arms for Afghanistan and Afghanistan is Bleeding in Edmonton's Churchill Square as they listened to speakers from the Edmonton Coalition Against War and Racism, the Council of Canadians and the Alberta Federation of Labour.

"We feel that the Canadian people have been lied to by the government as to the purpose and goals over there," said protester Paula Kirman.

"Taxpayers' money is being wasted and there's not a lot of progress going on over there."

Edda Loomes, 67, a member of the Raging Grannies protest group, said she doesn't think Canada is helping the average Afghan. "I think what they need in Afghanistan is schools and support. Many, many private citizens are getting killed and Canadians are getting killed."

She said Canada is only interested in preserving oil interests in the region and that's why it has sent soldiers.

Protester Greg Farrants called the war in Afghanistan a "never-ending venture" and said peace rallies are a way for average Canadians to support the troops.

"I feel the support-the-troops campaign has been co-opted by warmongers," he said.

Protesters in St. John's, N.L., met in Bannerman Park and marched through the downtown area.

Demonstrator Samantha Mills-Wiseman said the war has been a failure, resulting in greater support for the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In Montreal, hundreds turned out to demand Canadian troops come home and shine a light on the dollars-and-cents costs of a growing defence establishment.

"The majority of the population does not support any increases in military spending," said Raymond Legault, a spokesman from Quebec anti-war organization Echec a la guerre.

"This message is addressed to all political parties in Canada," Legault said. "We want the silence around military spending to end."

Legault said the protesters were not just a small group of people against the war. "We're the majority."

"Who are our governments serving?" he asked. "Is it NATO, the military industrial complex? Or are they there to answer to the Canadian people?"