MPs say Canadian trainers may stay in Afghanistan after 2011
, Glob and Mail
Canada may keep a military presence in Afghanistan after its
combat mission ends next year in order to strengthen the
country's national security forces, an all-party House of
Commons committee on the conflict says.
The Canadian Forces is scheduled to end the combat mission
in July 2011, but there have been persistent calls from NATO
for Canada to maintain a small non-combat military presence
that would help in the ongoing — and often frustrating — effort
to train local soldiers and police officers. It's an idea that the
Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan is
willing to explore, said Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae.
“The door is open to a serious discussion in Canada, and then
between Canada and NATO, about what the future looks like,”
Mr. Rae said earlier this week as committee members paid a
visit to Kandahar Airfield. “Increasing the capacity both of the
Afghan police, the Afghan military and frankly the Afghan judicial
system has been very much part of what we've been doing and
I think it's something that needs to continue.”
The committee spent several days touring facilities in Kandahar
and Kabul, but details of the visit could not be reported until
Thursday for security reasons.
Tory MP Kevin Sorenson, the chairman of the committee, said
Canada could play an integral role in strengthening Afghanistan's
police and military in 2011 and beyond. “We all realize that the
Afghan police as well as the military are going to have to increase
capacity if they're going to be able to secure their own country,
and Canada may have a role in that,” Mr. Sorenson said.
The politically sensitive question of Canada's future role in
Afghanistan has dogged the federal government since
Parliament passed a motion two years ago that requires the
Canadian military to cease combat operations by July 2011
and withdraw from Kandahar. Canada has about 50 RCMP
and municipal officers and 40 military police personnel
mentoring Afghan cops at the provincial reconstruction centre
in Kandahar city. The U.S. recently poured more police mentors
into the base and also operates a police training centre near
Kandahar Airfield.
Washington's preference would be to have the Canadian battle
group remain where it is. But a fallback position, as suggested by
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, would be for Canada to play a
larger role in doing something it already does: training the Afghan
army.
NDP defence critic Jack Harris said a post-2011 role for Canada is
in the works, but suggested a military presence was not the only
option on the table. “All Canadians do not want to see the sacrifice
that has been made be for naught and we do have obviously a
considerable amount of humanitarian concerns and institution-
building concerns about Afghanistan,” Mr. Harris said. “Whether
that involves military or not is another question indeed. There are
lots of other ways that we can help build institutions.”
The Afghan National Army is considered far more prepared to
crack down on insecurity than the Afghan National Police, a force
that continues to struggle with a tarnished reputation among local
villagers after years of corruption, extortion and drug abuse. Many
officers still lack training and equipment as basic as handcuffs.
During a tour of Kandahar two weeks ago, federal International
Development Minister Bev Oda said the U.S. has offered to provide
security for Canadian civilian projects past July 2011, though
planning is still at a preliminary stage. And the Mounties have
already started looking at how to continue the police training
mission next year, RCMP Commissioner William Elliot said in April.
Since Canada's mission in Afghanistan began in 2002, 146 Canadian
military personnel and two civilians — diplomat Glyn Berry and
journalist Michelle Lang — have been killed. Canada has more than
2,800 military personnel in Afghanistan, the large majority of whom
are in Kandahar.
