Bring tractors, not tanks: Afghan governor [View All]

[bigtree]

30th January 2009, 8:13am


OTTAWA — The Afghan-Canadian governor of Kandahar is asking Canada for tractors, not tanks, for his troubled province.

Tooryalai Wesa says the way to improve security and fight insurgency in Kandahar is with job creation, advanced agricultural technology, and teachers who can show Afghans how to use it.

During a stop in Ottawa where he met with federal cabinet ministers, Wesa said “we should learn from history.”

He says Afghanistan would not be in its current situation if Russia invaded the country in 1979 with 50,000 tractors instead of a similar number of tanks.

Wesa says he sees only possibility where most of the rest of the world sees violence and despair . . .

read more: http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/world/2009/01/30/8204216.html


Tooryalai Wesa, right, is shown in a 2004 handout photo during a meeting in Afghanistan with grape growers. (University of British Columbia)