No troop cuts, Manley expected to advise.

This is from the National Post. There is also an article in the Globe and Mail.
The description of the commission as independent is a bit of unconscious humor. The commission was hand-picked by Harper to ensure a result he could live with and included Liberal hawks such as Manley to give a veneer of non-partisanship. No indication as to how much this commission has cost the taxpayer to come up with a policy that Harper could just as easily have had drafted by some much cheaper flunkey.


No troop cuts, Manley expected to advise
Report Next Week

Mike Blanchfield, Canwest News Service
Published: Saturday, January 19, 2008




OTTAWA - The independent commission created by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to advise his government on the Afghanistan mission is not expected to recommend any significant scaling back of Canada's commitment of 2,500 soldiers in the Kandahar region, or any profound change in their current marching orders.

A report by a panel headed by former Liberal Cabinet minister John Manley is expected to emphasize the need for Canada to continue contributing to the training of Afghan national army and police personnel. The findings, to be released as early as Tuesday, will not recommend a significant shift in the mission that Canada is currently conducting there with its 25 NATO allies and 11 other partner countries.

A published report this week suggested that the Manley commission would recommend a phased reduction of Canadian personnel in Afghanistan to as low as 1,500.

A source familiar with the content of the final report told Canwest News that it would not contain any specific calls for troop reductions.

Many people who have contributed submissions to the panel say they came away with the impression that Mr. Manley and his fellow members are essentially in favour of staying the course in Afghanistan. That is, continuing combat operations while simultaneously training Afghan security forces.

"I basically said we should stay and continue our role," said Canadian military historian Jack Granatstein, summarizing his submission to the panel.

Mr. Granatstein said his impression is that the commission is likely to reject three of the four possible options in its terms of reference: an end to Canada's current combat role, and a shift toward development and diplomatic efforts; large-scale withdrawals of Canadian troops starting in February, 2009; or a shift to a less volatile part of the country.

That leaves one option on the table: continue the current mission until Western troops can begin a "phased withdrawal" starting no earlier than February, 2009, and "consistent with progress" in training Afghan forces.