February 25, 2008
Canada May Withdraw From Afghanistan In 2011
Canada's Conservative government proposed a withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan by 2011 at the open of parliamentary debate on the future of the Canadian mission there.
"It is the opinion of the House that Canada should continue a military presence in Kandahar beyond February 2009 to July 2011 in a manner fully consistent with the U.N. mandate on Afghanistan," said Royal Galipeau, the Conservative deputy chair of Committees of the Whole House.
The Canadian House of Commons is debating that country's lead role in the Afghanistan mission. Support for the ongoing mission has dwindled among Canadians, who have seen a disproportionately large number of casualties in the Afghan conflict.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has bristled at what it sees as reluctance among the other large NATO members to contribute resources and manpower to the fight against the resurgent Taliban. The patchwork-style NATO mission -- with Canadians, Britons, Dutchmen and Americans doing the lion's share of security and reconstruction work -- is facing Taliban fighters who have adopted tactics used by al-Qaida and insurgents in Iraq (e.g., suicide bombings) and a rampant opium trade that Afghan farmers are reluctant to abandon.
Ahead of a contentious NATO meeting in Lithuania early this month, Harper's government threatened to bring the Canadian mission to an end if other NATO countries did not increase their contributions. That threat still holds as the Canadian parliament hammers out its Afghanistan timeline.
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Afghanistan, Asia, Bush Administration, Canada, Condoleezza Rice, Iraq
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Bush will meet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon during a two-day summit in Quebec. It's in some ways a perfunctory meeting among neighbors -- no major policy pronouncements are expected -- though all parties involved have pressing issues to resolve.
