McKay is in Denial About the Dangers in Afghanistan

Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister, Peter McKay, is downplaying the dangers to Canadian troops in Afghanistan following a quick trip he made to the country this week:

MacKay also questioned reports of growing instability in the south, saying increased bombings may be the result of coalition forces moving into formerly Taliban-controlled areas.
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Taliban activity has been increasing in Afghanistan's southern provinces. Coalition commanders acknowledge an increase in the number of suicide and roadside bombers, and observers say the Taliban have been moving more freely in the rural areas.

Still, MacKay disputed the assertion that the increased violence suggests the Taliban are gaining ground or growing bolder.

"I would disagree that things are unstable in the south," he said. "You're going to see more insurgents at various times. It will ebb and flow like the tide."

McKay can 'disagree' all he likes in an attempt to garner more support for the Canadian mission in Afghanistan but one would expect that his disagreements would actually be based on facts:

Building on a winter campaign of suicide bombings and assassinations and the knowledge that U.S. troops are leaving southern Afghanistan, the Taliban appear to be moving their insurgency into a new phase, flooding the rural areas of the south with weapons and men.

Each spring, with the arrival of warmer weather, the fighting season here starts up, but the scale of the militants' presence and their sheer brazenness have alarmed Afghans and foreign officials far more than in previous years.

"The Taliban and Al Qaeda are everywhere," a shopkeeper, Haji Saifullah, told the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, as he strolled through the bazaar of this town to talk to people. "It is all right in the city, but if you go outside the city, they are everywhere and the people have to support them."

"They have no choice," he said.

The fact that U.S. troops are pulling out of southern Afghanistan in the coming months and handing matters over to NATO peacekeepers, who have repeatedly stated that they will not go on the offensive against terrorists, has given a boost to the insurgents - and increased the fears of Afghans.

Obviously, McKay is completely wrong in his assertion that the increase of insurgent activities in the south is just a matter of 'ebb and flow'.

McKay theorized:

"Sometimes the increase in insurgency is the recognition that the Taliban may be on the run and we are moving into territories that they are feeling more threatened," MacKay said.

"on the run"? Where have we heard that rhetoric before?

Is the Conservative government's foreign policy going to be driven by a minister in such denial that he won't even listen to the commanders on the ground who know the reality of the situation? If so, our troops are in serious trouble.