Afghan mission cost raises questions

This is from the Star. The costs may raise questions but be assured that the Liberals and Conservatives will duly pass the Afghan motion before they are questioned. Perhaps when the figures eventually come out the Liberals will baa baaa like the meek little lambs they are.
It is interesting that there is very little criticism of spending on Afghanistan. Not only is there a huge military expenditure but much of our reconstruction aid is going into a situation where corruption could very well steer much of the aid into politicians and warlords pockets.


Afghan mission cost raises questions
TheStar.com - Canada - Afghan mission cost raises questions


. But motion to extend participation to 2011 expected to pass today

March 13, 2008
Allan Woods
Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA–Parliament will not learn the estimated cost of extending Canada's Afghanistan mission to 2011 until well after voting today on a government motion, a senior military official says.

The official, speaking to reporters on background, said the Canadian Forces are examining the incremental costs of the mission from February 2009 to December 2011, but final figures will remain under wraps for some time.

"Part of the business of putting this before the government is that there's a cost analysis being done," the official said. "I would suspect that once the mission is approved, if it is, that those figures would then become available."

The motion appears set to pass with the support of a majority of MPs from the Conservative government and the Liberal opposition. The Bloc Québécois opposes staying in Kandahar past February 2009 when the current commitment ends, and the NDP has advocated an immediate pullout.

The suggestion that the military has already planned the six-month troop rotations through 2011 without a fairly specific idea of the total costs of a prolonged stay in Kandahar is not credible, NDP defence critic Dawn Black said.

"The military is very good at planning. They plan everything," said Black (New Westminster-Coquitlam).

Heading into the vote without an estimated price tag is like asking parliamentarians to send a "blank cheque to the military," she said.

The issue of military costs in Afghanistan became an issue this week when Montreal's La Presse reported that the Canadian Forces appear set to overshoot their budget for the NATO mission by $1-billion this year, according to military estimates released under the Access to Information Act. That would be the largest cost overrun since Canadian soldiers deployed to Afghanistan in the 2001-02 fiscal year, the government figures show.

Also yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier expressed confidence Canada would receive the 1,000 additional troops from a NATO country to bolster efforts in Kandahar province – a key condition of the mission extension.

He said he received assurances in Brussels last week at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.