Canadian Prime Minister Ready to Throw in the Towel in Afghanistan
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10 September 2008
Canada PM: Troops home from Afghanistan in 2011
By ROB GILLIES
TORONTO (AP) — Canada's prime minister vowed Wednesday to pull troops from Afghanistan in 2011, the first time he has said Canadian forces will leave the country.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that Canadians do not want to keep soldiers in Afghanistan beyond then and that 10 years of war is enough.
"You have to put an end date on these things," Harper told reporters during a breakfast briefing. "We intend to end it."
Click Here to read the entire story by Rob Gillies
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Comments
"Throw in the towel" is a rather harsh and perhaps knee-jerk characterizatio n of a plan whose details have not been illustrated or announced and probably won't be for at least a year-and-a-half.
Also note that the "10 years of war is enough" statement in the article is the reporter's editorializing, it is not something that Harper said. A somewhat better version of the story can be found here: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=782446
I wouldn't be surprised to see Harper announce a major surge (by Canadian standards anyway) after he is re-elected to achieve the Coalition's goals in Kandahar by 2011. Also, given his government's large investment in and restructuring of Canada's special forces (Special Operations Forces Command), it wouldn't be surprising to see a significant contribution by Canadian SF in Kandahar and elsewhere in Afghanistan post 2011, perhaps in a bit of a role-reversal with Australia.
Keep in mind that Harper orchestrated some brilliant domestic political maneuvering to extend the Canadian mission from 2009 to 2011 in the first place. He has a history of promising little and delivering much.
They made a reasonable committment and thats all we can ask for.
I hope that when the time comes we replace them with Iraqi troops.
Canada is in the midst of an election campaign with one right-of-centre party (Harper's) up against three left-of-centre parties. By putting an "end-date" on the current mission in Afghanistan, Harper has effectively taken the issue off the table. He can dismiss accusations of "warmongering" for the duration of the campaign. It would be highly difficult for Harper to win a majority government otherwise, and could potentially even result in a Liberal government, which would surely end Canada's mission in Afghanistan.
About the "end date" issue: does anybody seriously believe that coalition generals don't have mission goals that are time-specific? I'm sure the enemy is very well aware of changes-of-command, troop rotations, etc. Harper is merely announcing the obvious in terms of Canada's infantry deployment. Keep in mind that proportionate to population levels, Canada has suffered 2x as many casualties as Americans in Afghanistan and around 3-4x as many casualties in terms of boots on the ground. That's some pretty heavy lifting all things considered and it makes sense that they may want to alter their contribution periodically (a luxury the "lesser powers" have).
So let's speculate on what the "altered contribution" might be (Harper and his defence minister both mentioned "technical" contributions post 2011 in recent days):
To date, Canada's primary contribution to the Kandahar mission has been infantry and associated engineering (route clearing, etc.) and artillery + a couple squadrons of Leopard 1 and 2 tanks. Also, some JTF2 (special forces).
Because Canadian/coalition troops sorely lack tactical airlift in Kandahar (thanks for nothing, Europe), Canada is in the midst of purchasing 16 new Chinooks intended specifically for the Afghan mission. They're not about to park them. They've also been outfitting and testing some Griffon helicopters for escort/reconnaissance duties (similar to USMC Hueys).
I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple of squadrons of Chinook and Griffon escort helicopters deploy to Kandahar in 2010 and beyond, with perhaps a squadron or two of (recently modernized) F-18s rotating in and out Kandahar.
Also, expect significantly more special forces contributions (as I mentioned earlier, a new special forces regiment has been formed and trained and is likely ready to contribute.
Sorry for the long post.
We have a choice. Some choose complacency or defeatism. Thatƒ??s their prerogative.
Just like in Iraq our enemies will lose because of their inhumane tactics. It will take time, but such brutality cannot win the war without the kind of overwhelming force that barbaric fascists like Stalin or Genghis Khan had.
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