Canada demands 'one partner' in Kandahar

It is hard to see who the one partner would be unless the United States. If no other partner can be found the U.S. would step up to ensure that Canada stays in Kandahar. Besides the U.S. may need practice at avoiding friendly fire incidents!
Many NATO countries may just tell the U.S. Canada et al. to go fly a kite, now permitted in Afghanistan.


THE AFGHAN MISSION: REINFORCEMENTS FOR THE SOUTH

Canada demands 'one partner' in Kandahar
CAMPBELL CLARK

March 13, 2008

OTTAWA -- Canada wants one country to provide the entire 1,000-soldier contingent it needs as reinforcements in Afghanistan, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier says, but it has not yet had a definitive answer from the three nations that could supply them: the United States, France and Britain.

Mr. Bernier's comments made clear that Canada will not accept a patchwork of smaller contingents from various countries - the sort of aid that the Netherlands was forced to accept when it set its own demand for help before it extended its mission in Afghanistan.

He also indicated none of the three countries that could come to Canada's aid has yet promised to do so.

"Concerning the position of the U.S. government or the French government or the U.K. government, I cannot tell you what will be their position," he said. "But what I can tell you is that we need one partner, and a partner that's going to be able to work with us in the south [of Afghanistan]."

He said it is very important that Canada find a single partner for its mission in Kandahar that will not be limited by "caveats" - the term used for restrictions that prevent a country's forces from engaging in serious fighting.

Few countries would be able to provide 1,000 well-equipped soldiers, and many of those that could have placed caveats on their troops in Afghanistan.

Mr. Bernier said he has had good talks with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who have all agreed that Canada's call for reinforcements is crucial to NATO.

"Who's going to be our partner? I don't know that," he said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government had focused its early hopes for a partner in Kandahar on France, which had indicated some willingness to help. But some Canadian officials say those hopes have been fading, and it is now more likely that President Nicolas Sarkozy will send troops to Afghanistan's east.

British officials have said they are unlikely to send troops to Kandahar, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown has indicated his country will likely keep the same number of troops - just under 8,000 - in Afghanistan. The British military carries the heaviest load in Helmand province, just west of Kandahar province.

Canadian officials have always believed that the United States would probably send the additional 1,000 troops if no other country did. And some believe that if France sent troops to eastern Afghanistan, that would allow 1,000 Americans to be redeployed to Kandahar.

But the U.S. has not made commitments to do so, and has instead used the Canadian demand as an opportunity to press its NATO allies to carry a greater share of the burden in Afghanistan.

About 20,000 of the 42,000 international troops in Afghanistan are American.