Canada Sticks with a Decision

Canada will not extend its mission in Afghanistan beyond 2011, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. Harper and Clinton held a brief meeting Tuesday morning ahead of a meeting of G8 foreign ministers in Gatineau, Quebec.  Harper's statement came after Clinton indicated to the press that she wished for Canada to stay in Afghanistan after 2011. 2011 has been the year Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan is has been scheduled to end. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs reiterated at a news briefing in Washington that the Obama administration would like to see Canada continue its mission.” There are a host of civilian non-combat activities that Canadians can and we hope will contribute to. They're our valuable partners in this coalition. Canada’s parliament passed a motion in 2008 agreeing to keep Canadian soldiers in Kandahar until 2011.In the interview, Clinton suggested the possibility of keeping "non combat" troops in Afghanistan to assist with training and logistical work. Yesterday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon indicated there would be no military mission after 2011. Canada’s government dispatched troops right from the beginning and as well through several administrations have made amendments to when requested yet was one of the first that went into Afghanistan and stayed in there and has amended the dates two times in leaving. The feeling of the government is that Afghanistan must assume a greater responsibility now. President Obama decided to send 30,000 more troops to the country but also said the U.S. would start withdrawing troops in July 2011. Under this plan, there will be nearly 100,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan this year nearly triple the level when he took office. NATO has not made an official request asking Canada to extend its combat mission in Afghanistan, which began in 2002. At least 2,500 Canadian soldiers are in Afghanistan, serving under NATO. Since 2001, when the mission began, 141 Canadian soldiers and two civilians have died. Canada never went into Iraq in 2001, Canada went into Afghanastan and has maintained its presence since day one in. I truly believe that when one takes all things into consideration there is a time stay true to what you have done and there is a time to bring troops home. The way I feel is that you can’t fix everything that is going on in the world and economics plays a large role within this one as well. Sometimes a country stay true to decisions that are made. I do believe there is a time to bring back troops, as you can't fix all the problems within the world. Yet within NATO there is this great commodity called surveillance, it was done during the cold war and now by way of NATO there is a much better surveillance coupled with the idea that Afghanistan would continue to rely on nations for years. In my opinion

I believe it's time to bring troops back - not just for Canada, but within many countries and do what was done years before. Peace is not easy but there is a large cost to trying to maintain peace.

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