'IMPOSSIBLE MISSION'

Failing U.S. Policies In Afghanistan Are Killing Canadians, British Report Says

KANDAHAR -- Canadian troops and Afghan civilians are paying with
their lives because of failing U.S. policies to erase the opium poppy
crop, says a report by a British think-tank.

The poppy eradication campaign has driven rural farmers into such
extreme poverty that they are shifting their support to the Taliban
because the international community and the Afghan government are not
doing enough to meet their basic needs, says the report by the
London-based Senlis Council.

"Canadian troops have been handed an impossible mission which can
only lead to significant casualties," says the report, released yesterday.

"Until Canada fundamentally re-evaluates its approach and creates its
own new strategy for its presence in Kandahar, with a clear split
from the failed U.S. policies there, the Canadian mission in
Afghanistan is blindly following a path that will lead to senseless
military and civilian casualties."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended Canada's activities in the
war-ravaged country.

Canada is working to eliminate the threat of terrorism, but also
wants to eliminate drug trafficking, which is causing problems in our
streets, he said.

"For that reason we support the efforts of the international
community to eradicate drug production," Harper said.

Lt.-Col. Ian Hope, commander of the Princess Patricia's battle group
in Kandahar dismissed the report as a political document that is
steeped in anti-Americanism.

While there are some minor poppy eradication programs in Kandahar,
they have nothing to do with Canadians and are having nowhere near
the negative impact set out in the report, he said.

"It makes me angry because it trivializes the efforts of soldiers on
the ground who are doing the right thing every day," he said.

Opium poppies, which do not require irrigation in the
drought-stricken region, represent a huge chunk of the local economy.
The drug harvest brings in 10 times as much money to impoverished
villagers as a crop of wheat.

While Canadian troops aren't actively involved in poppy eradication,
the report says farmers see them as complicit in the U.S.-sponsored campaign.

The report also accuses Canadian forces of accidentally killing
innocent civilians during security sweeps.

Hope said not a single Afghan civilian has been killed in all the
firefights Canadian troops have had with the Taliban.