NYT : Panel Questions Canadian Role in Afghanistan

Panel Questions Canadian Role in Afghanistan

By IAN AUSTEN | January 23, 2008

OTTAWA — A government panel said Tuesday that the Canadian military should withdraw from a combat role in Afghanistan next year unless it is reinforced with 1,000 additional troops from other NATO countries.

Canadians are divided about the role their military should play in Afghanistan after legislative approval for the country’s current combat mission in the province of Kandahar ends in February 2009. The deaths of a diplomat and 77 soldiers, most of which have occurred since mid-2006, have caused some politicians to call for a return to a reconstruction role or even a complete troop withdrawal.

Canada has a combat force of about 2,400 soldiers in the country.

The report from the panel, a five-member group led by John Manley, a lawyer and former deputy prime minister, emphasized the importance of continuing the Canadian combat mission. But it also echoed popular resentment in Canada that other NATO countries are sending troops to the region under orders to avoid combat.

“We are going to need to see more troops in Kandahar Province or this mission will not succeed,” Mr. Manley told reporters after giving the report to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a Conservative who appointed the panel. “We’ve heard it again and again: ‘This is NATO’s most important mission.’ Well, it’s time for the rhetoric to end.”

During their three months of study, the panel members said, they heard criticism of the efforts of some other NATO countries, including comments from unidentified NATO commanders.

Some countries, the panel said in the report, notably the United States, Britain and Canada, “have borne more than a proportionate share of war fighting in Afghanistan.”

Mr. Harper, who has suggested that Canada should stay at least until 2011, said he would study the report. Canada’s Parliament, where no opposition party favors extending the combat mission, will vote on the country’s next move, probably by this spring.