Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is vowing his government would completely withdraw Canadian troops from Afghanistan in 2011 – a promise that goes beyond a Parliamentary motion this year which merely committed to pull soldiers out of Kandahar province.
Military analysts have warned it's a bad idea strategically to set a definite end date for withdrawing from Afghanistan but Mr. Harper says he thinks even the Canadian military wants to quit the country in 2011.
The statement is a change for Mr. Harper, who had acknowledged in April that it was possible down the road that Canada's NATO allies might ask Ottawa to extend its Afghan commitment beyond 2011.
The March 13 resolution, backed by both the Conservatives and Liberals, said: “The government of Canada notify NATO that Canada will end its presence in Kandahar as of July 2011, add, as of that date, the redeployment of Canadian Forces troops out of Kandahar and their replacement by Afghan forces start as soon as possible, so that it will have been completed by December 2011.”
But now, Mr. Harper is vowing his government would pull out completely.
“The mission as we have known it – we intend to end it,” Mr. Harper said “I think we have to say to the government of Afghanistan, ‘We have an expectation that you are going to be responsible for your own security. We're not there to permanently manage your security'.”
Later Wednesday evening, Mr. Harper spoke on foreign affairs, telling a Toronto audience that the opposition parties would not stand up for Israel as he has.
Mr. Harper told the rally about how he refused to sign a statement at La Franocophine summit in 2006 condemning Israel over the Israel-Lebanon conflict. He said it was hard to resist foreign leaders' pressure that day – and then suggested no other parties would have held up under that pressure.
“I had one of the most difficult days as your prime minister at the last Francophonie summit. I found myself caught in the centre of a case of political correctness gone mad. ... A large number of foreign leaders demanded we [Canada] sign on to a statement, a statement that would have singled Israel out for condemnation for having defended its democracy against the terrorism of Hezbollah, an organization that wants it wiped out from the face of the earth. I did not sign that and I will not sign that.”
He also told the audience that “members of other parties [are] actually going and marching in the streets beside the flags of Hezbollah. They are the same commentators who condemn me when I stand beside the Dalai Lama, when we cut off aid to Hamas, when we took a tough line against the government of Zimbabwe, when we refused to participate in the Durban conference ... When we warn about the dangers emerging in Russia, when we make clear we will assert our sovereignty over our own Arctic. As Conservatives, as prime minister, I believe our foreign policy is not just about getting along and going along.”
On the subject of Afghanistan, NDP Leader Jack Layton said Wednesday he was unimpressed by Mr. Harper's commitment to withdrawal.
“I don't think we can trust Mr. Harper on what he says about this mission in Afghanistan,” Mr. Layton told reporters after a visit to a solar-panel factory in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough.
“I think he's come to realize that some of the issues that we've been concerned about are valid issues and I simply feel that a Prime Minister – who at one time said we should go into Iraq – who has continuously expanded our military mission in Afghanistan, who has been very critical of anyone who has even raised a question about it, simply can't be trusted to ensure that what he is saying now is in fact what is going to happen.”
