Canada’s military mission in Afghanistan is scheduled to end by July 2011.
The conflict, however, will not.
NATO, which took command of the United Nations-mandated International Security Assistance Force in 2003, recognizes that assisting the Afghan authorities with security and stability to create the conditions for reconstruction and development is a long-term project.
The Canadian government has also come to recognize, albeit slowly, that deadlines and timetables are often impractical in war.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Stephen Harper proposed extending Canada’s military mission in Afghanistan.
The announcement was a bold reversal for a prime minister who has long insisted that, “other than the odd guard guarding an embassy,” no Canadian soldiers would remain in Afghanistan after July 2011.
Details of the government’s proposal are sketchy, but it’s likely to entail sending up to 1,000 soldiers to Kabul until 2014 to help NATO train the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police.
The commander of NATO’s Training Mission Afghanistan revealed recently that the organization faces a shortfall of 900 trainers.
The organization’s plans to gradually hand over lead responsibility for security to the Afghans will be delayed indefinitely unless that shortfall is addressed.
The Conservative government has been under intense pressure at home and abroad to extend our military mission.
During a visit to a Canadian aid project in August 2009, NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said it would be in our best interests to extend the mission to ensure a peaceful, safe Afghanistan.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went on national television in March of this year to appeal to us to maintain a presence in the country.
The NATO leaders’ summit in Lisbon, Portugal, running later this week, makes it more urgent for Harper to clarify Canada’s role after July 2011.
Closer to home, support for the mission has dwindled.
An Angus Reid poll in June suggested that 59 per cent of Canadians opposed the military mission.
The NDP and the Bloc Quebecois also believe Canada’s soldiers should get out of Afghanistan entirely, as scheduled.
However, many families of soldiers killed during the mission are unhappy with Canada’s plan to end the combat mission.
They say Canadians have a duty to the Afghan people to finish the battle that they started.
Earlier this year, the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence echoed the families’ concerns about the future of the mission.
It’s report, Where We Go From Here: Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan, recommended that Canadian soldiers remain in Afghanistan for an undetermined amount of time to continue training the Afghan National Army and police.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has been calling on Canada to play a training role all summer.
In spite of his initial reservations about the prime minister’s proposal, he will likely support it if it comes to a vote in Parliament.
Canada’s mission in Afghanistan has always been a multi-faceted one.
While military missions and the inevitable casualties that result from them garner most of the attention at home, Canada has played other roles: decommissioning tens of thousands of heavy weapons from decades of war; clearing land of mines and explosives; providing micro-loans to more than 100,000 Afghans, the vast majority of whom are women; and training Afghanistan’s army and police.
Maintaining security and stability in Afghanistan is critical if Canada hopes to provide humanitarian assistance, rebuild institutions and contribute to Afghan-led political reconciliation when the combat mission ends.
Keeping Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan until 2014 to assist NATO’s non-combat military training efforts would go a long way to shoring up Afghanistan’s police and army and creating an environment for rebuilding and political reconciliation to flourish.
Cameron Kennedy is an Advocate editor.