Here’s the problem: subcontractors must complete necessary documents in English, they must have a number of years of experience in the field, and their employees must have a certain level of education, often a bachelor’s or master’s degree. Afghanistan, remember, has been at war for almost half a century, and subcontractors tend to hire from outside the country. These “experts” might agree to train their Afghan counterparts to obtain the contracts, but they seldom do, as they would soon be unemployed themselves.

The solution, of course, is to establish an independent system of vocational training in Afghanistan. There are initiatives we might build on, such as Project Artemis–Afghanistan, the Thunderbird School of Global Management’s entrepreneurial skills training program for promising Afghan businesswomen.

On a side note, I am taken aback that Canadian defence attaché Colonel McLean would offer such a grim perspective of Kabul, as he is supposed to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

Yasin Khosti
Co-founder and former president
Society of Afghan Architects and Engineers
Peoria, Arizona


Bloody Americans
In “The Lynching of Louie Sam” (December), which tells the story of a rare lynching on Canadian soil by an American mob, John Vaillant wonders how “the United States and Canada could differ so much on the subject of due process.” John Ralston Saul provides one possible answer in his new book, A Fair Country. We are a Métis nation, he says, founded on the aboriginal ideal of fairness and an adaptive orientation toward negotiation rather than violence.

Might I suggest a slight variation on Saul’s thesis? While Canada’s independence evolved in relative peace, the US was born out of violent revolution. Its civil war was proportionally one of the bloodiest in history; the rebellions in Lower Canada, Upper Canada, and the Northwest would hardly qualify as skirmishes south of the border.

Violence also characterized the settlement of the American West. I am not referring only to the ethnic cleansing of aboriginals, but to fierce competition among settlers for the best land. In the absence of official law enforcement, vigilantism saved communities from falling to anarchy or gangster rule.

In Canada, settlers were generally preceded by the Northwest Mounted Police and had no need to impose their own law. The conditions for a High Noon– style shootout between a lone sheriff and some gangsters, for instance, simply didn’t exist here. And, in at least one case I’m aware of, prospective settlers drew their acreages from an officer’s hat.