Michael Ignatieff has revealed the Liberals’ position for Canada’s mission in Afghanistan post-2011, calling for Canadians to commit to training police and military personnel.
On the eve of the G8 and G20 summits, the Liberal Leader unveiled his foreign-policy platform Tuesday in a speech to the National Forum in Toronto. In it, he proposed the creation of a military training institute in Kabul, much like the Royal Military College in Kingston.
Mr. Ignatieff is suggesting that Canadians remain for another three years after the military mission ends in July, 2011, but cautions that any commitment cannot be open ended.
Training a cadre of officers is a mission that Canadians would be good at, he said, noting that some of the best military trainers are in this country. It would also be a mission that does not involve combat.
Rather, Canadians could train Afghans to defend themselves, which was an aim of the original mission.
“What were we there for in the beginning?” he asked. “It was to enable Afghans to defend themselves … to be self-sufficient. We are not there yet. … There is more work to be done.”
He said Canada could also help with justice reform and postsecondary education.
The Liberal Leader was highly critical of the government, accusing Prime Minister Stephen Harper of making a decision to “cut and run” from Afghanistan.
“Mr. Harper behaves as if the Afghan mission never happened,” Mr. Ignatieff said. “It happened on his watch. He is walking away from it as if it never occurred. There is something about this that doesn’t seem right to Canadians.
“And we will look back and ask, ‘What was that about? Did we let ourselves down? Did we let our allies down? Did we let Afghanistan down?’”
Defence Minister Peter MacKay was non-committal about Mr. Ignatieff’s proposals Tuesday.
“We’ve been heavily engaged in training both Afghan National Army and police,” Mr. MacKay said after Question Period.
“I think what’s interesting about Mr. Ignatieff suggesting we need to open the door to greater dialogue or greater discussion is that similarly we’ve had this, we’ve had debates in the House,” he said. “We have a bipartisan resolution with respect to Canada’s mission in Afghanistan. We have a parliamentary committee, one that has recently returned from Afghanistan.”
Mr. Ignatieff’s speech on Tuesday also touched on the major components of what his party is describing as a “global networks strategy.
The strategy looks at how Canada would relate to China and India through a “new kind of bilateral agreement,” including dusting off the Team Canada missions that were popular during Jean Chrétien’s time in office.
It also looks at pursuing a multilateral agreement on issues of security, the environment and the economy in the Arctic.
The Liberals propose – if they form a government – using the estimated $1.7-billion that will be saved from no longer having a combat mission in Afghanistan for defence, deployment and diplomacy.
They say, too, that a Liberal government would “re-evaluate all major procurement programs in a post-Afghanistan combat era.” This means making different decisions as to how a postwar military should be equipped.
“A well-resourced military will remain essential, but as one element of a broader concept of what Canada does in the world, compared to the narrow view of the current government,” the Liberal document says.
This, the Liberals say, will “free up” resources to support other initiatives, including renewing the foreign service, opening new posts in “strategic foreign markets” and “enhanced development assistance” for human development in Africa, a region they say has been ignored by the Harper government but will become an international aid priority for a Liberal government.
