Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Liberals keep doors open on Manley report

CAMPBELL CLARK

Globe and Mail Update

January 22, 2008 at 7:50 PM EST

Kitchener, Ont. ? Liberal Leader St?phane Dion still insists that Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan must end in 2009, but his foreign-affairs critic left wiggle room and embraced the John Manley panel's suggestion to delay a parliamentary vote on the mission until after a NATO summit in April.

Mr. Dion's statements run squarely against Tuesday's recommendations of Mr. Manley's panel that the Canadian mission continue indefinitely if several conditions, including an injection of troops from another NATO country, are met.

But Liberals insisted they will save their full response until the government says what it will do - and the party's foreign affairs critic, Bob Rae, refused to rule out supporting some kind of extension, insisting that there are so many conditions that it's still not clear what the government will propose.

The uncertain response reflects concerns about how the report's conclusions might put pressure on the Liberals, looking toward an election, to alter their entrenched position that Canada should move out of Kandahar next year, but stay in Afghanistan - a compromise reached to bridge divisions within Liberal ranks.

Mr. Dion told reporters Tuesday morning after meeting with his MPs in Kitchener that he had only a cursory briefing on the report, but his party still believes Canada has shouldered enough burden in Kandahar.

?We want the combat mission to end in February, 2009, and Canada to continue a mission in Afghanistan with our partners of NATO and the government of Afghanistan,? he said.

?We want to be very active on training, training the Afghan forces, training of the police. We want to focus on development, we want to have better governance of this mission, and we'll see what Mr. Manley and his group are proposing.?

The panel concluded that no clear line can be drawn between combat and training missions.

Mr. Rae refused to say what type of mission Liberals might accept. But he did not rule out the possibility that the Kandahar mission could be extended, saying that the panel made recommendations that require talks with NATO countries, the Afghanistan government, and the United Nations, and sets several conditions, so it is still unclear what that would mean for Canada after 2009.

?I think it's fair to say we don't know the answer to that yet.?

He said the Liberals' concern with the current mission is that ?the focus on a military solution to the insurgency has been quite unrealistic? and that the Manley panel's analysis, and not just its conclusions, deserve study.

In some respects, the report echoes Liberal complaints that the Conservative government has not done enough on the diplomatic front, and that under current conditions, it's unlikely to succeed. But the panel recommended a bigger effort, with NATO reinforcements and a major diplomatic push.

Mr. Rae said the Liberals welcome the suggestion that parliament defer its vote on the Canadian mission until after a meeting of NATO leaders in Bucharest in April. That would also avoid a quick election showdown on the issue.

?We certainly welcome that discussion and welcome that approach,? Mr. Rae said.

IMO..it will not end if Harper has his way...he is (a wanna be) head so afr up Bushes ass you do not know where he stops and Bush's ass begins ::) and poor poor Dion...as much as a Liberal that I am, the little man is a dolt

I agree that an entirely military solution is not the answer.  It needs to be coupled with a capable domestic government that is seen as legitimate and able to provide the services needed by the people.  Anything that can be done to reign in strong tribal leaders (preferably by bringing them to the table and making them responsible in the way that governors are responsible for states/provinces) is a good thing.  Put them in a position where discord causes them problems, and you'll increase their capacity to cooperate w/ NATO and the Afghan government. 


You know where Bush's ass begins because that's where you find Cheney, inserting neo-con suppositories.

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Do we even know what "Harper's way" is?

Everything seems pretty undecided.

Canada should be getting the extra NATO troops they've been requesting forever, yet it still hasn't happened.

If NATO doesn't help us out, I completely support the end of our combat role in Afghanistan.


He's an absolute joke who will be without a job soon enough.

I can't wait to watch Harper tear him to shreds during the next election :smoking: