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18 - The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday April 26, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Taliban will return to power if NATO leaves says Armstrong Continued from page 3 "People are scared to death that they will be caught in the next suicide bombing, that they are going to drive over an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), that their girls will be murdered on the way to school, that their teachers will be beheaded, as they have been, for teaching children to read and write, that the international community will abandon them again," said Armstrong. The duality of life in Afghanistan is captured by the story of Lima, a young girl Armstrong first interviewed while the Taliban were in power. The Taliban had murdered Lima's father, mother and grandmother leaving her the sole supporter of four young siblings. Lima would work from dawn to dusk washing clothes and finding food, which she would then cook in what remained of her bombed out home. She also had to work full time to keep her siblings safe in the landmine-riddled area. "One day I said to her, `Do you ever do anything you like to do?'" said Armstrong. "She brightened right up, took me by the hand and led me and a translator to a path that circled around the village. I thought we were going to a field where the kids play or a brook where she skips stones, but we weren't. We were going to the village cemetery. That's where this blameless child goes when she can take a minute from endless chores. She sits under a tree and she prays for and talks to her mom." So much public interest was generated by this story that Armstrong made another visit to Lima last year to follow up the story. The cost of getting there was great. Lima's village lies in a dangerous area where no one wants to go. When Armstrong arrived, she found Lima to be a very different person than the silent and sad girl who had lived under the Taliban. "She was smiling from ear to ear and this was a kid who didn't smile," said Armstrong. "At one point, she sidled up as if it was a conspiracy and said, `I've found a school I can go to. I'm going to learn to write my name.'" During another visit some time later, Armstrong found that Lima had been married and now lives in Iran. When she asked if Lima wanted to get married, she was told that Lima didn't have a choice. Relatives in the village provided Armstrong with Lima's cell phone number and the two have been in contact. Not exactly a happy ending Armstrong noted, but that's kind of what passes for one in today's Afghanistan. With Canadian and Afghan casualties continuing to mount, so too has opposition to Canada's presence in the war torn country. While Armstrong respects the right of people to protest, she believes it is important that they have all the facts. "Number one, we did not invade Afghanistan, we were invited by the Afghan government to help them establish security," she said. "Also, I hear people at protest rallies saying that the people of Afghanistan want us to leave. With the exception of the extremists, you'd be hard pressed to find a person in Afghanistan, who wants the international community to leave. In fact, they're terrified we might because they know that if the international community leaves, the fighting will start within 24 hours and within a week Afghanistan will be a pariah state." Armstrong also noted that the insurgency is only going on in four southern provinces in Afghanistan with the other 30 provinces marginally better off. While Armstrong believes the Taliban cannot be completely defeated, she believes they can be contained to the point where the government of Afghanistan can stand on its own two feet. Why should Canada participate in this? For Armstrong, the horror of what happened to Afghanistan's women in 1996 cannot be repeated and as such the issue becomes one of confronting evil instead of accepting it. "Hannah Arendt concluded that evil thrives on apathy and cannot exist without it," said Armstrong. "When injustice encounters inertia it uses that passivity exactly as though it were approval and in the absence of protest evil is nourished and it can flourish. The nature of goodness therefore bears a very keen resemblance to intervention." BEST PRICES EVER $ 14 SEER HI-EFFICIENCY 600 OFF WAS 3100 $ 3200 $ 3400 $ 3600 $ CENTRAL AIR 1.5 TON 2 TON 2.5 TON 3 TON NOW 2500 $ 2600 $ 2800 $ 3000 $ 10 Years Parts & Labour Warranty New Gas- R410A Eligible for Government Rebate 8 Locations To Serve You Better! 905-849-4998 *See Dealer for Details www.aireone.com 1-888-827-2665 SPACE AGE SHELVING The Storage Specialists In Home Consultation Apa tm ts Apartments p tme t Home f es Home Offices ome Pan ry Pa try Garag Ga age a ag Lau dr La ndry a C ose s M rro Closets & Mir or Doors se ro 3350 Fairview Street between Walkers & Guelph Line 905-333-1322 2555 Erin Centre Mississauga 905-542-0353 www.spaceageshelvingburlington.com www.spaceageshelving.ca