Stay the Course, NATO urges Canada

Nice that Canadian taxpayers fund a Canadian Forces Airbus to ferry NATO bigwigs about in style. The visitors also get a demonstration from the Snowbirds! Apparently no one worries about military fuel use or pollution by excessive use of fuel on behalf of the military.
Although NATO does not enter the debate they make sure they inform us of their point of view. I think the term: Stay The Course was patented by Bush on Iraq but no doubt it lapsed from disuse. Notice that Henault did not use the phrase!



Stay the course, NATO urges Canada
Top military officer hopeful Ottawa will extend commitment beyond February, 2009
ALAN FREEMAN

From Friday's Globe and Mail

September 7, 2007 at 5:02 AM EDT

OTTAWA — NATO's top military officer says that it's up to Canada to decide whether it wishes to maintain combat troops in Afghanistan, but he added that he hopes the Canadian government will continue its involvement in NATO's Afghan mission beyond February, 2009.

General Ray Hénault, the Canadian who chairs NATO's military committee, said it is important to "stay the course" in Afghanistan, calling it "a long-term mission" with no way to predict its length.

The general was speaking at the start of a four-day visit to Canada by the top soldiers from the 26 members of the alliance who make up the NATO Military Committee.

"We're very conscious of the fact that several members of the alliance are discussing their participation in the Afghanistan mission," Gen. Hénault said at a news conference after arriving aboard a Canadian Forces Airbus from Brussels, accompanied by the defence chiefs. "We try to adapt as well as possible to the changing circumstances of different nations."


Asked about the scheduled end of Canada's combat role in Kandahar in February, 2009, Gen. Hénault said it was still 1½ years way and "a lot of things can happen in 18 months."

The general, formerly Canada's chief of the defence staff, said that NATO would not get involved in the debate in Canada or other NATO countries over the future of their commitments. But he added, "We're certainly hopeful that Canada will find a way to continue to co-operate in Afghanistan because of what Canada represents in the international community."

The general and his colleagues - who were greeted at Ottawa International Airport by General Rick Hillier, Canada's Chief of the Defence Staff, a military band and a demonstration by the Snowbirds acrobatic airplane team - are meeting in Canada for the first time in a decade. This week's session is one of a series of three such gatherings that take place annually.

After a state dinner with Governor-General Michaëlle Jean in Ottawa, they move to Victoria for formal meetings, where they are due to discuss issues including training, resources and operational planning as well as NATO missions in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Darfur.

Gen. Hénault was peppered with questions about how NATO will react to the withdrawal of Canada's 2,500 combat troops from the volatile Kandahar region. The government has said repeatedly that this particular mission will end unless Parliament approves an extension, which seems unlikely, although a mission to a safer part of the country would be more palatable politically to the opposition Liberals.

The general was careful to say that the decision on troop deployment belongs to Canada alone, and he wouldn't be drawn into a discussion of who would replace the Canadians. The NATO force has 33,000 troops from 26 NATO countries and 11 partner nations operating in Afghanistan.

Asked about the Dutch government's review of its participation in the Afghan force, the general responded that "we're hopeful that they too will find ways of continuing to operate in Afghanistan."

He said that NATO was constantly assessing "force generation" issues, which involve matching available troops with needs in the field, but he would not say how much formal notice NATO needs before replacing the Canadians in Kandahar.