Clinton wants Canada to extend Afghan mission

US wants Canada to stay in Afghanistan

GATINEAU, Quebec — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday the U.S. would like Canadian troops to remain in Afghanistan past 2011 and suggested they could switch from a combat to a training role.

But Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon ruled out any form of a military mission post-2011 and said the government’s position has been made perfectly clear.

“The military role will end in 2011,” Cannon told a hastily called news conference late Monday on the sidelines of the Group of Eight foreign ministers meeting. He spoke after Clinton appeared earlier in the day on Canadian television.

Cannon said Canada is examining what role civilians can play after 2011 but said there will be no more troops. He said he didn’t think Canada’s withdrawal would create tension between Washington and Ottawa.

“We said that we would be pulling out our troops at the end of 2011 and that is exactly what we are doing,” Cannon said. “In every opportunity that I’ve had I’ve reiterated my position.”

Canada’s Parliament has mandated that the military mission in southern Kandahar province end in 2011. Canada has about 2,900 troops there.

Clinton told CTV News earlier Monday that the U.S. would like Canada to keep some of its troops in Afghanistan.

“We would obviously like to see some form of support continue,” Clinton said. “The military could switch more into a training role instead of a combat role, a logistics support role instead of the front-line combat.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said Canada does not have the appetite to keep its soldiers in Afghanistan much longer.

Canada has lost 141 soldiers and one diplomat in Afghanistan since it first sent troops there after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

Canada increased its deployment in Afghanistan after declining a U.S. request to send troops to Iraq. Canadian troops assumed responsibility for Kandahar in 2005. Harper has said Canada has done its part by serving in Afghanistan’s most dangerous province, a Taliban stronghold.

Canadians have long been concerned about the toll in Afghanistan. All Canadian soldiers who die there are flown to Ontario and driven to a Toronto morgue before their bodies are returned to their hometowns. Canadians often line the overpasses of Highway 401 — now known as the “Highway of Heroes” — to pay tribute to the fallen soldiers.