A new report by the Senlis Council is calling into question Canada's mission and objectives in Afghanistan, including its stance on development, aid and poppy eradication.
The report, which was released on Monday, calls on the federal government to construct a better plan for the future of the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan.
The Brussels-based thinktank maintains the military is doing a remarkable job in very difficult circumstances but it is calling on the government to rethink its stance on a number of initiatives in Afghanistan.
"What we are releasing today at the press conference is a call for a complete overhaul of the government's policies on development and counter narcotics," Norine MacDonald, a spokesperson from the Senlis Council, told CTV's Canada AM from Ottawa on Monday.
In particular, the council opposes Canada's support of the U.S.-led policy of poppy eradication.
"Our concerns about the counter narcotics strategy in Kandahar province, where our military are fighting, is that Canada has really been silent on that and have let the United States take the lead," MacDonald said.
"Their policy is one of forced poppy crop eradication and they've pledged to go ahead with chemical spraying in Kandahar's agricultural areas in the next season."
MacDonald explained the decimation of poor farmer's crops has lead to anger against foreign military in Afghanistan.
The council recently surveyed 17,000 Afghan men in southern Afghanistan.
Fifty per cent of the men surveyed believed the Taliban were going to win the war while 80 per cent worried constantly about not being able to feed their families.
"Those are really bad numbers and something has got to be done," MacDonald said.
The council states Afghan farmers should be allowed to grow poppy crops for medicinal use.
"There is a global shortage and that would help us, help them, create a legal income and put them in a positive relationship with us to ensure our military are working in a positive environment," MacDonald said.
During the Nixon years, the U.S. led a successful initiative in Turkey and India to cultivate opium for heroin to be used for medicinal purposes.
"That's where they (U.S.) get their medicine now and we believe Canada should do the same in Kandahar and really turn this into a positive relationship with the Afghan farmers," MacDonald said.
The Senlis Council is also calling for a major overhaul of the federal government's development and aid strategies in the country.
"We're just not seeing the effects of it on the ground," MacDonald said. "Kandahar is really full of extreme poverty and we're seeing starving children and starving elderly in camps on a daily basis."
The report calls for CIDA to be removed from its work in Kandahar and a special envoy to be put in place.
The document also says Canada's development and aid spending should be equivalent to its military spending in the country.
"At the moment we are spending 10 times more on the military spending than development and aid, and clearly we are not getting the job done," MacDonald said. "We need a management paradigm, measures of success, we really need an overhaul and we need it soon."
The Senlis Council will appear before a House of Commons committee on Tuesday to discuss their findings.
