2009 + how many years; ... canada's iraq

Canadian troops may be deployed in Afghanistan past 2009
Mar 7, 2007

MONTREAL (AFP) - Canada may keep soldiers in Afghanistan to help stabilize the worn-torn nation beyond February 2009, its current commitment, it was reported, citing military documents.

The French-language Montreal daily La Presse said 235 million Canadian dollars (200 million US) has been budgeted to maintain Canada's military presence in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, according to files obtained through access to information legislation.

Last year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government pushed a two-year extension through Parliament to February 2009, but did not exclude the possibility of a further commitment.

Opposition leader Stephane Dion vowed last month to bring Canadian troops home in February 2009, if his Liberal Party returned to power in the next general election, expected this year.

The Liberals accused Harper of having already made up his mind to extend the mission, despite his public denials.

"All the documents suggest this government is just searching for a way to announce that we will be in Afghanistan after 2009," Liberal MP and defense critic Denis Coderre told La Presse.

Defense department spokeswoman Carole Brown told AFP that planning for a longer stay was undertaken.

"This plan details what units will make up our first and second line of operation until 2010. But the fact that we have identified particular units in no way implies that we will necessarily be using them in Afghanistan after 2009," she said.

"It does not mean that its going to occur. It's part of our normal process of prudent and contingent planning."

Canada deployed 2,500 soldiers in the volatile Kandahar region in southern Afghanistan hunting down former Taliban militants. Since 2002, 45 soldiers and one senior diplomat have died in attacks or roadside explosions.

Two Canadian soldiers of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force stand guard at the Provincial Reconstruction Team premises in the southern city of Kandahar, January 2007. Canada may keep soldiers in Afghanistan to help stabilize the worn-torn nation beyond February 2009, its current commitment, it was reported, citing military documents.(AFP/File/Shah Marai)