Conservatives claim ‘no decision’ made on leaving some troops in Afghanistan past 2011
Got you there, MacKay. Granted, if people were paying attention, they’d know this has been your position for some time:
Flashback: ‘Some’ Troops to stay in Afghanistan past 2011: McKay
CBC News
October 1, 2009
The Conservative government is being asked to clarify its position on whether Canada will remain at war in Afghanistan after Parliament’s deadline passes to pull out combat troops.
Questions arose after Defence Minister Peter MacKay said on Tuesday that the government was considering whether Canada’s 300 soldier reconstruction team, called PRT, could remain in Kandahar after 2011.
But he appeared to add to the confusion on Wednesday when he refused to rule out the possibility of the Canadian military training teams remaining in Kandahar.
“Well there’s been no decision taken on that,” he said.
In March 2008, the parliamentary motion agreed to by the Conservatives called on the government to “end its presence in Kandahar as of July, 2011.” It did not make concessions for leaving any troops behind.
During question period in the House of Commons, Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae pressed the government to clarify its position.
“Are you sticking to the motion that was passed by the House in March of 2008?”
Foreign Affairs Minster Lawrence Cannon responded that “we are putting an end to our military combat mission by 2011 and that is clear.”
The confusion seems to centre on the word ‘combat’ and whether troops that secure development workers or train Afghan soldiers and police officers, fall under that category.
But military historian Jack Granatstein, a senior research fellow at the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute, said he believes they do.
“They go out on operations, the mentors go into the field with Afghan battalions, and they fight alongside them, the police mentors are with the police and the police are under what seems likes almost constant fire.”
Granatstein said the parliamentary motion is a little less than definitive and that the government likely believes those Canadian trainers and the troops who provide security for development are exempt from the motion.
“So there’s simply no doubt that if we leave troops there, although they may not, in quotes, be combat troops, they will nonetheless be in the line of enemy fire,” Granatstein said. He said the confusion around the future of the mission needs to be cleared up.
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October 17th, 2009 at 6:15 am
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November 19th, 2009 at 6:35 am
[...] Karzai election fraud, sacked UN envoy says | Torture probe delayed; Tories deny gagging witness | Conservatives claim ‘no decision’ made on leaving some troops in Afghanistan past 2011 | Obama considers new strategies for Afghanistan and Pakistan | US braced for surge of protest over [...]
November 24th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
[...] Karzai election fraud, sacked UN envoy says | Torture probe delayed; Tories deny gagging witness | Conservatives claim ‘no decision’ made on leaving some troops in Afghanistan past 2011 | Obama considers new strategies for Afghanistan and Pakistan | US braced for surge of protest over [...]
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:52 am
[...] Karzai election fraud, sacked UN envoy says | Torture probe delayed; Tories deny gagging witness | Conservatives claim ‘no decision’ made on leaving some troops in Afghanistan past 2011 | Obama considers new strategies for Afghanistan and Pakistan | US braced for surge of protest over [...]
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:30 am
[...] Karzai election fraud, sacked UN envoy says | Torture probe delayed; Tories deny gagging witness | Conservatives claim ‘no decision’ made on leaving some troops in Afghanistan past 2011 | Obama considers new strategies for Afghanistan and Pakistan | US braced for surge of protest over [...]
February 27th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
[...] Karzai election fraud, sacked UN envoy says | Torture probe delayed; Tories deny gagging witness | Conservatives claim ‘no decision’ made on leaving some troops in Afghanistan past 2011 | Obama considers new strategies for Afghanistan and Pakistan | US braced for surge of protest over [...]
April 19th, 2010 at 4:46 am
[...] Karzai election fraud, sacked UN envoy says | Torture probe delayed; Tories deny gagging witness | Conservatives claim ‘no decision’ made on leaving some troops in Afghanistan past 2011 | Obama considers new strategies for Afghanistan and Pakistan | US braced for surge of protest over [...]
June 3rd, 2010 at 3:14 pm
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June 22nd, 2010 at 10:43 am
[...] Afghan combat post-2011, Hillier says | Troops get non-combat role in Afghanistan after 2011 | Conservatives claim ‘no decision’ made on leaving some troops in Afghanistan past 2011 | ‘Some’ Troops to stay in Afghanistan past 2011: [...]