KABUL, Afghanistan — After a lengthy trek, Liberal Defence critic Denis Coderre has arrived in Kabul and is preparing to head to Kandahar to meet personally with Canadian troops.
Mr. Coderre took a United Nations flight to the Afghan capital early Sunday from Islamabad, Pakistan.
Mr. Coderre has already met with a number of people in Kabul, including a senior infrastructure specialist from the World Bank and members of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, an independent research organization based in the Afghan capital.
He will arrive in Kandahar on Monday to spend Thanksgiving with the Canadian troops based in the southern Afghanistan.
“I'm going to go tomorrow to Kandahar, meet the troops and visit the infrastructure and send a clear message of solidarity,” Mr. Coderre said in a telephone interview.
The Montreal MP says his fact-finding mission comes with the blessing of Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, who plans to make his own trip to Afghanistan in the fall.
“I have the full support of my leader. ... I'm going on behalf of Stéphane Dion and I am paving the way for a future trip,” Mr. Coderre said.
“It is a team player effort. The leader is fully supporting it and I had a go-ahead.”
Mr. Coderre says he will have a few more meetings in Kabul and Islamabad before heading back to Canada.
“It's clear that you can't talk about the mission in Afghanistan without looking at the Pakistan strategy or the Pakistan card,” Mr. Coderre said. “It's really important. We don't put enough emphasis of our mission on the situation of Pakistan. Pakistan is clearly part of the solution.”
Mr. Coderre said a component to the Liberal's position on Afghanistan post-February 2009 will include looking to Pakistan for help. He added that Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier should have included a stop in Pakistan on his weekend Afghan visit to better understand the situation on the ground in Afghanistan.
Mr. Coderre brushed off suggestions from political adversaries in Canada that his trip to Afghanistan is merely a political stunt, adding that he has taken precautions for his own security as well as others.
Both the Tories and the NDP have questioned Mr. Coderre's solo trip.
“I'm a former cabinet minister and I'm a member of the privy council,” he said. “I have a duty and I'm doing my duty.
“Under no circumstances did I put anyone's security at stake.”
Canada has some 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, most in Kandahar. Seventy-one Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died since the Canadian mission began in 2002.
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