Canada threatens troop pullout from Afghanistan

Canada threatens troop pullout from Afghanistan

www.reuters.com

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will pull its 2,500 troops out of Afghanistan early next year unless NATO sends in significant reinforcements, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Monday, signaling Ottawa has lost patience with what it sees as foot-dragging by allies.

The minority Conservative government wants the soldiers to stay beyond their current withdrawal date of February 2009 but in another potential threat to the mission, the main opposition Liberal Party expressed doubts about the idea of an extension.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 1/28/08 by FredT]

Boy oh boy...Canada is making some news as of late in regards to the "war on terror". First the U.S. Torture watch-list, now this. Now I have to say, if Harper feels his men are being compromised because of NATOs negligence, then all the power to him for bringing his men home. The problem I think is that NATO is running out of fresh recruits-enlistment numbers keep dropping.

What say you, people up North? Is this more political grand-standing?

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

(This is a joke)
Leave it to Canada to pull out of the wrong country

But seriously . I support them if they chose to go through with it . Maybe others will follow ?

Everyone on the Manley panel is a US stooge anyway, especially Wallin and Manley. It's a media-op. The report? PDF here. Pre-election social-engineering. Meme-du-jour.

Vic

Originally posted by DimensionalDetective
What say you, people up North? Is this more political grand-standing?

Up here, 9.99999 times out of 10 the answer is yes.

Extending the mission requires a vote and it will be a confidence vote which can topple a minority government. The report he's referring to was written by John Manley who is a former Deputy Prime Minister of the Liberal Party. It will be very hard for current Liberal MP's to vote against this.

It's all about staying in power, and Harper is a skillful politician.

I'll believe when I see it. Harper has no desire to leave Afghanistan what so ever. He would like it if our troops stayed indefinitely.

Although he has publicly stated that he will follow the recommendations of the Manley report that was delivered last week, he has a history of not keeping his word.

oLDWoRLDDiSoRDeR, I know you were joking but I'll just say that Afghanistan is the only country that we have troops in that are in combat.

Surprisingly, we decided to stay out of Iraq when it started and in retrospect I'm glad we did even though our presence may have gone some way to preventing the deaths our allies suffered. I think John Lear was right about the drug situation in Afghanistan and I don't think we are doing the people of that country any good by continuing the mission if it is enabling the proliferation of the opium trade. I think its a thin excuse saying that it is hard to grow any thing else there. I think we should rethink why we are really there and take the source of the terrorists money away from them. Maybe I'm uninformed but it's my opinion.

Harper's having a few other issues at home right now.....

It has come out that our troops have not been transferring prisoners to the Afghani's for months, due to credible allegations of torture.

The big deal?

When asked specifically about prisoner transfers in question period, MacKay (Harper's lapdog) said there was no abuse going on. Then the opposition leader went to Afghanistan to visit and found out we haven't been turning them over for three months because of the 'credible allegations'. The govt tried blaming the Army for not telling them and the Army got mad and said 'screw you, you did so know about it'. This same trip to Khandahar was leaked in advance by a Conservative minister, in a gross breach of security.

Harper has things he doesn't want us thinking about right now.

reply to post by Duzey


Sounds a lot like our leaders in the states. Although with the sh** snowball amassing itself on all arenas-Iraq, economy, etc., they're having a hard sell painting "happy time" anymore. lol

I think the general feeling regarding the WoT is a mixed bag here in Canada. I'd say 99% of the populace is glad we stayed out of the Iraq conflict as it had nothing to do with anything. Regarding the Afghanistan mission, I believe a fair majority here believe in what NATO is doing over there.

That being said, Canadians (I can't speak for everyone of course) are not pleased with the execution of the Afghani mission. The main gripe appears to be that Canada appears to be lifting a disproportionate amount of the weight vis a vis combat operations (Excepting of course the USA, the UK and the Dutch). The rest of our NATO allies are sitting comfortably in the relatively peaceful north forbidden from combat and night-time operations.

The other problem is regarding Pakistan. We know that this is where the Taliban takes refuge, yet we cannot take the fight there, nor is the Musharaff regime entirely co-operative when it comes to combating this enemy.

So Canada looks at the situation and thinks, why should we send our boys to die in a war that, though just, is unwinnable thanks to the inaction of our NATO allies and our fairweather Pakistani friends? Remember, war is an extension of politics by other means. If the political will is not there to fight this war, then no war should there be. Either NATO and Pakistan gets on board or Canada takes her small but superbly trained contingent and goes home.

Looks like Harper reiterated this directly to Dubya himself today...


[B]Ready to quit Afghanistan, Canada PM tells Bush

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, reinforcing an ultimatum over Afghanistan, told U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday that Ottawa would withdraw its military mission next year unless NATO sent in more troops, officials said.

Canada, which has 2,500 soldiers in the southern city of Kandahar, is fed up with the refusal of other NATO nations to send more forces to the violent region of Afghanistan. The Canadian combat mission there is due to end in February 2009.

Harper said on Monday he accepted the recommendations of an independent panel that urged Canada to end the mission unless NATO provided 1,000 extra soldiers and Ottawa obtained helicopters and aerial reconnaissance vehicles.

A spokeswoman said Harper had talked to Bush on Wednesday about the report.

"He underscored that, unless Canada was able to meet the conditions specified by the panel of additional combat troops and equipment from NATO allies, Canada's mission in Afghanistan will not be extended," she said.

Continued
www.reuters.com...

[edit on 30-1-2008 by DimensionalDetective]

[edit on 30-1-2008 by DimensionalDetective]

IMO It appears he is making the right decision in terms of the application of military force. Either we're in it to win or we're out.

You know, much as I loath Harper, he has done wonders for our military. The cash influx is certainly helping in the recovery from decades of neglect. New transport aircraft, some ships that can actually navigate the northwest passage, new kit, etc. Good stuff. I still don't like the guy much.

Grand Standing
Idle Threats
Sweetheart Deals
Macho Posture.......................[then run to the storm cellar]

Yeah, Harper seems to bluster alot. But I can't blame him for not wanting to sacrifice his men if they're not getting the support they need and are sitting ducks. Desert warfare is no joke.