"Highway of Heroes"? Wouldn't it be more accurate to refer to it as Highway of Gurkhas"?

Right on! Faithful, loyal and brave soldiers and friends of the British...still respected and honoured for their prowess and courage!

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by suzycue on November 21st, 2009

What both of you have posted will only strengthen my arguements for Canada to get out of Afghanistan.
"Fellow Canadians, I say our soldiers are Washingtons gurkhas, but MacNeilD and suzycue say that they aren't fit to be even called that!"
:-D

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by Civic Cat on November 23rd, 2009

Do not put words in my mouth. I did not say anything of the kind. Canadian soldiers are doing a wonderful job helping the Afghanistan people to beat back the Taliban so they can live peacefully, raise their children and have "normal" lives. Our Canadian soldiers are training their soldiers and police, are building infrastructure, schools and helping to protect the civilians...there objective is peace, not war...but in order to reach that goal the Taliban have to be destroyed.
Ghurkas were - and are - warriors. Brave and courageous ones, as I said before.....but warriors, not peace-keepers.

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by suzycue on November 23rd, 2009

Point well taken, suzycue.
Indeed, my second answer came from
discerning a little bit more of
Civic Cat's ideas; the Gurkha
of Nepal are effectively Hessians,
but not all Hessians are--or ever
were--Gurkha.
Suzycue, you're also right about the nature
and character of our mission in Afghanistan.
The Taliban were and are capable fighters,
but their simplistic visions of politics and
of "pure Islam" made them bad rulers when they
had the chance to govern the country.

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by MacNeilD on November 24th, 2009

Right......and they continue to hold the vast majority of Afghanistanis hostage...those who want to live in peace and be left alone to work and raise their children...just like all of us.

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by suzycue on November 28th, 2009

Which can lead to another question of mine:
-
"Why are American, Canadian, and soldiers of other countries propping up the ISLAMIC Republic of Afghanistan?"
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1834041

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by Civic Cat on December 1st, 2009

Normally I consider answering twice to be point gaming, but your suggestion is so good, I'll give you my max: +3.
:-D

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by Civic Cat on November 23rd, 2009

Thank you; your comments informed me
that my first answer about the history
of the Gurkha didn't answer your needs.

Instead, you needed some term other than
_Gurkha_ to describe the relationship between
Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan and their
American employers.

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by MacNeilD on November 23rd, 2009