My guess is the government will stay pretty strong on withdrawal; perhaps some non-combat forces will remain but nothing like what President Obama wants:
http://tinyurl.com/ygrthlo
The government is sticking to its position that the Canadian Forces will not be involved in combat in Afghanistan beyond the end of next year, despite a public plea from the U.S. Secretary of State for Ottawa to extend the military's engagement in the Afghan theatre.
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On Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said that while Washington may offer encouraging words about Canadian soldiers and their capabilities, the government's position on the matter is not negotiable.
"First, we all have to acknowledge how the Americans are very supportive of what Canadians and the Canadian troops and our civilian component are doing there," Cannon told CTV's Canada AM from Aylmer, Que., on Tuesday morning.
"But at every opportunity I have had, I have mentioned to my colleagues that the government's position is clear, it has been established by a motion in the Parliament of Canada…and we indicated that beyond 2011 there would not be any combat role for Canadian troops and that our withdrawal was firm."
When Clinton spoke to Power Play, she suggested that the U.S. would welcome Ottawa keeping Canadian troops deployed in Afghanistan who could be assigned to training Afghan forces, undertaking development and other non-combat tasks.
3 comments:
Suppose there's some big terrorist/al qaeda/taliban major attack/offensive/success between now and December 2011. Maybe we'll be confronted with some new, compelling justification for extending the fiasco.
Iggy for his part has been as clear as mud.While he did insist that the combat mission must end he did not indicate what the precise definition of combatant role is.
He was virtually incomprehensible
when asked if there was any circumstance for which he'd support keeping troops in Afghan. beyond the 2011 exit date.
My bet is that we will see troops in Afghan. in 2012. They will be there in a different role. In order for this to happen at least some Libs will have to vote to allow this. The party's split on the vote a few years ago was a disgrace.In particular the former PM absence (after sending our troops there in the first place)from the vote was beyond cowardace.
The local Rogers radio shill was gushing about Harper's "courage", but it was really a no-brainer. He'd lose an election on Afghanistan.
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