'If Ye Break Faith With Us Who Die, We Shall Not Sleep.'

The two-year paralysis that so utterly enfeebled Canada in the matter of this country's post-2011 re-dedication to Afghanistan is now officially over. Ottawa has come out of its coma, and now rejoins the company of the grown-ups in the 43-member International Security Assistance Force. With today's announcement, we take our place once again as a leader in the international cause of a sovereign and democratic Afghan republic.

For two full years, in spite of the pleadings of the Conservative government, the House of Commons refused to show any leadership at all on the question of Canada's post-2011 role in Afghanistan. It is an irony of the most spectacular kind that when 11th-hour statesmanship was revealed to be finally breaking the impasse last week, the main thing the pundits instructed us to do was to join them in their harrumphing and trousers-wetting about Stephen Harper's supposed contempt for the House of Commons.

We should recall that for two full years the House of Commons Special Committee on Afghanistan refused to discharge its duties, in contempt of the Parliament by which its duties were assigned. Instead, it turned itself into a lurid chamber for the most foul (and groundless) "torture" allegations against members of the Canadian Forces. It had become like some kind of celebrity television show where the contestants were challenged to find ways to put the name of a cabinet minister in the same sentence with the words "war criminal."

It's finally over.

The Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee spent much of the past year running a national campaign to try and help break the Parliamentary paralysis with a new vision for Canada's role in Afghanistan. Our work took us back and forth from Kabul, Ottawa, Toronto, Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif, Ottawa, Toronto, Halifax, Montreal, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Ottawa again. Hundreds of Afghans and Canadians (especially Afghan-Canadians) were directly involved in the effort. Among them were Canadian soldiers and the parents of dead soldiers, Canadian and Afghan journalists, Afghan MPs, women's rights activists, academics, diplomats, Afghan Opposition leaders and not a few cookie-baking United Church women.

I would like to think we made some small contribution to keeping the debate alive at least, but no matter. All credit goes to Liberal Foreign Affairs Critic Bob Rae, Defence Minister Peter MacKay, House Special Committee on Afghanistan leader Laurie Hawn, Pamela Wallin and Romeo Dellaire of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, and not a few other Parliamentarians from all parties who would probably prefer that their names be left unmentioned for the moment. Did I mention Bob Rae? Oh yes, I see I did. I'll mention him again: Bob Rae.

The new deal isn't quite what the Solidarity Committee suggested for a Canadian military re-dedication, but that wasn't our main concern or our area of expertise, and the result is close enough anyway. Apart from the trainers - here's another irony for you - almost the entire package unveiled today was known to most of us since last spring, and was reported in the Globe and Mail August 24. The general outline, at least, was there all along.

Canadians should not be impressed to know that two of the four "key areas" of Canada's new mission still fall into the vaguely-defined "humanitarian assistance" and disingenuously-described "promoting regional diplomacy" categories. Anyone can chuck UN gruel bags from the back of a truck. "Regional diplomacy" is usually a euphemism for sinister triangulations between Riyadh, Islamabad and Tehran that threaten to sacrifice Afghan sovereignty on the altar of an Anglo-American exit-strategy. This is not good.

It is right and proper that Canada's first "key area" of post-2011 engagement refers to investments in education and health. But it is worrisome in the extreme that Canada's new 950-trainer contribution has been merely tacked on to what was first articulated as a priority for "advancing the rule of law and human rights." This is the thing that should be galvanizing our attention now. One purpose cannot be put at the expense of the other. It is not clear whether the "training role" will be funded at least partly by robbing Peter to pay Paul.

It is more than just a good thing that Canada's military will continue to put its broad shoulders to the wheel of building up the capacity, competence and professionalism of the Afghan National Security Forces. But we must not allow this to come at the cost of the covenant that has been written in the blood of so many Canadian soldiers already. This is the solemn covenant that binds Canada to the Afghan people. It is the heart of the whole bloody, grisly matter.

Let someone else distribute UN gruel bags. If Canada is to have a role in "regional diplomacy" it should be to ensure that Afghanistan's regional tormentors are kept at bay and that their Islamist-fascist proxies in Afghanistan are not empowered by any exit-strategy reconciliation deal. A post-2011 Canadian "legacy" must neither dishonour the Canadian dead nor betray the living Afghans we have beckoned out into the light after 30 years of barbarism and oppression.

The deal the Canadian government made with the Canadian people and the Afghan people was and remains the cause of peace, order, and good government, the mutual security of Afghans and Canadians, the emancipation of Afghan women and the defence of a sovereign Afghan republic. The sacrifice our soldiers and their families have made since 2005 was specifically intended to defend and to nourish the embryonic institutions of Afghan democracy. We must not take our eyes off that prize now - not for one minute.

That labour has only now begun. We should put our backs into it.

UPDATE: As I was saying. . .The Afghan government and the international community must prioritise the rule of law, which should be the primary pillar of a successful counter-insurgency strategy. “At the highest level of the judiciary, the Supreme Court has emerged as both bully pulpit for Islamists and proxy ballot box for President Karzai, supporting him with little regard for the constitution”.