U.S. hopes Canadian troops 'stay as long as they possibly can'

Canwest News Service via National Post ^ | 2009-12-04 | Sheldon Alberts

[Clive]

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama's national security advisor said on Friday the United States hopes Canadian troops will "stay as long as they possibly can" in Afghanistan and encouraged NATO nations to avoid "summary announcements of total withdrawal" from the war zone.

But retired General James Jones did not say if Washington had asked Ottawa to extend the Canadian combat mission past July 2011, the date on which the U.S. expects to start withdrawing its forces.

"Canada has made such a huge contribution to the mission in Afghanistan for so long that it is a charter member of the effort. So I think that while we would encourage everyone to stay engaged as long as possible without summary announcements of total withdrawal, those are national decisions that have to be made," he said.

"We hope that Canada and the Netherlands and other countries that are key members of this effort will be able to stay as long as they possibly can because they make such a critical contribution."

His remarks came as NATO announced 25 nations would send 7,000 additional soldiers to Afghanistan, after the U.S. President said on Tuesday the U.S. will deploy 30,000 extra troops there.

The U.S. has about 68,000 troops in Afghanistan; NATO and non-NATO forces number about 38,000.

There has been speculation for several months the U.S. would apply new pressure to Ottawa to keep combat forces in Afghanistan past the 2011 deadline set by Parliament.

Catherine Loubier, a spokeswoman for Lawrence Cannon, the Foreign Affairs Minister, said yesterday "Canada has no plans for more troops" and the U.S. has not asked for an extra military commitment.

"We will abide by the parliamentary motion. Our combat mission will end in 2011," she said.

[Clive]

Please read the whole original article before commenting.

[Clive]

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[neodad]

I read enough to say, without a doubt, that Obama’s a puss. Withdrawal for me but not for thee? Right...

[doc1019]

The US is not committed to victory, why should the Canadians stick around. If I were they, I would get the hell out while the “getting” was good.

[VOA]

Mundane observations from flyover-country USA:

1a. I suspect you couldn’t find one-in-a-hundred Americans that would
have a clue that about 1/3 of the military commitment in Afghanistan
is made by allies in NATO. (I suspect most would think the USA
was about 90 percent or more of the manpower)

1b. Never heard any mention about the infusion of more NATO troops to come...
Obama makes it sounds like every thing is a USA operation and that’s
why we need to get out (as if we’re the only ones that have made
any sort of sacrifice).

2. One does wonder what sort of real communication was made with
NATO partners like Canada, The Netherlands, etc...before Obama’s cut-and-run
speech at West Point.
Or has Obama proven to be even more of an “American Cowboy” than Dubya?
And decided, after MONTHS of dithering, to make the withdrawal
speech and not really talk beforehand with the NATO partners.

[fanfan]

Thanks for the ping, Clive.