Canada eyes leaner role in Afghanistan

This is from the Toronto Star. I agree with MacKenzie that doing the right thing should trump domestic politics. However, that would involve distancing ourselves from our role as a junior partner of US imperialism. We should get out immediately. That is not of course what MacKenzie has in mind. Whatever Manley recommends one can be sure that it will not involve withdrawing from Afghanistan but some changing of roles but retaining our involvement. The US is stepping up its own military involvement so although the US may hope to keep spreading the military involvement around it will not be crucial. Given Gates' critique of NATO training maybe the US even wants to take even more of a lead on the combat front.


Canada eyes leaner role in Afghanistan
TheStar.com - Canada - Canada eyes leaner role in Afghanistan



Manley expected to call for partial pullout and transformed mission in ’09

January 16, 2008
Bruce Campion-Smith
Ottawa bureau chief

OTTAWA – Canada should reduce its contingent of combat troops in Kandahar and focus on training Afghan police and army officers to eventually take over security duties in southern Afghanistan.

That's likely to be among the chief recommendations when a federal panel created to study the future of Canada's Afghan mission after February 2009 releases its long-awaited report early next week.

The federal panel, led by former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley, is likely to endorse the transformation of the mission from combat to training that is already underway.

"I hear the recommendations will support the mission in Kandahar with a transformation of the approach to the mission which is already happening," said Alain Pellerin, of the Conference of Defence Associations, a lobby group active on defence issues.

A poll released last night suggests strong public unease with the current combat mission.

Forty-seven per cent of Canadians want our troops brought back from Afghanistan as soon as possible, according to a Strategic Counsel poll done for CTV News and The Globe and Mail. In Quebec, 57 per cent want the mission to end right away.

The poll showed that only 17 per cent of Canadians want troops to continue in their combat role and 31 per cent said Canadians should remain in Kandahar but turn over the combat role to another NATO country.

Last summer, the Canadian Forces boosted its mentoring teams to train the Afghan army and launched new efforts to help train the Afghan police.

"We're into phase two now of ... recalibrating the mission so you put more emphasis on training the Afghan army, training the security forces and I think that's what is happening now on the ground," said Pellerin, a retired colonel with close ties to the military who has visited the troops in Afghanistan.

The news comes as yet another Canadian soldier was killed in Afghanistan yesterday. Trooper Richard Renaud, 26, was killed and a fellow soldier injured when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb during a patrol north of Kandahar city.

With yesterday's attack, 77 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat – Glyn Berry – have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002.

Those deaths – along with the reluctance of NATO allies to dispatch troops to dangerous southern regions of Afghanistan – have fuelled public and political misgivings in Canada about the Kandahar mission.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper established the panel last October in a bid to develop a compromise for the future of the mission, once the current military commitment runs out in a year.

In addition to Manley, the Afghan panel includes: former Conservative federal cabinet minister Jake Epp; Paul Tellier, former clerk of the Privy Council; Derek Burney, a former Canadian ambassador to the United States; and Pamela Wallin, former Canadian consul general in New York City.

After listening to hundreds of individual Canadians and organizations, visiting NATO headquarters in Brussels and seeing military and development efforts firsthand in Afghanistan, the Manley panel is due to release its own vision for the future of Canadian aid workers, diplomats and soldiers, either Monday or Tuesday.

Pellerin envisages a scenario that puts Canada on course for a gradual withdrawal from Afghanistan, reducing its force initially to about 1,500 – down from more than 2,000 now – to focus on training.

But in addition to the trainers, combat support elements would also be left behind. That includes artillery and even the tanks that serve as vital backup to allied and Afghan troops in the field, as well as field engineers, who have built roads and bridges in the region, he said.

"I think more and more that is probably what the (Canadian Forces) leadership would want to see and reducing the number of troops in Kandahar," Pellerin said.

Gen. Rick Hillier, the chief of defence staff, has warned that preparing Afghan security forces to take over is a job that will go past February 2009. Even the Conservatives' throne speech noted the training won't be done by then, suggesting the objective should be achievable by 2011.

But Manley may suggest putting off decisions on Canada's mission until after the NATO leaders' summit in April in Bucharest, Romania, where Afghanistan and troop commitments are expected to dominate the agenda.

Harper is expected to be at the high-level conference to wring commitments of money and military assistance for Afghanistan, along with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and European Union representatives.


Harper has pledged that Parliament will vote on any proposals to extend or change the current mission.

However, retired major-general Lewis MacKenzie worries that efforts to find a political compromise in Canada may distort the mission in Afghanistan.

"I've got a funny feeling that the priority is to find some sort of compromise that's acceptable and all sides can say they won a little bit, which is unfortunate because it's the one issue ... where doing the right thing should trump domestic politics," MacKenzie said.

While the Liberals have called for a move out of Kandahar, MacKenzie said it makes sense for troops to stay put where they've built up a network of bases and now know the local Afghan leaders.

"I hope they won't suggest moving out of Kandahar," MacKenzie said.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon yesterday announced that 2,200 U.S. troops will be sent to serve under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in southern Afghanistan.

Another 1,000 Marines will expand the training of Afghan national security forces.

But Pellerin cautioned the Americans are not meant as a replacement for the Canadian troops.




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With files from the Star's wire services