Canada Commits More Troops to Train Afghans

In a surprising development, the Canadian government has announced it is sending 90 more soldiers to help train local police and the national army. This is very welcome news, and very much in keeping with the recommendations in our report, Keeping Our Promises.

"The government of Canada is proud to contribute additional Canadian Forces personnel to prepare Afghans, in order to build a stable, strong and peaceful nation, which they deserve," says Defence Minister Peter MacKay (CBC).

However, the announcement included the provision that these troops would return to Canada after 2011. Again, we're back to using a completely arbitrary timetable to determine our level of commitment when a far more rational approach would be to plan for the long term and adjust to actual conditions in 2011. Perhaps the ANA really will be up to snuff by the end of 2011.

Or, as many analysts believe, the ANA may require training support for a few more years before it is able to truly defend Afghan sovereignty from the depredations of the Taliban, who appear to be receiving the benefits of a different source of international support.

The deadline MacKay and others refer to is the end of our formal support for the Canadian battlegroup's presence in Kandahar (not necessarily, as some believe, a predetermined end for ALL military support for Afghanistan). Yet a scaled down mission more focused on training, consultation with NATO and the Afghan government and perhaps protection of our own humanitarian aid and development assistance personnel, ought not be lumped into the same pile. Deadlines are fine, but they ought to be informed by the actual situation on the ground, not determined on a whim.