Afstan: Senate Committee fingers NATO allies/Suggests possible 2009 pull-out

Not without some justification--but is our allies' slackness sufficient justification for our giving up? Surely if the job still needs to be done we should keep doing our part--if our military is capable and if there seems a reasonable chance of success. Not just pick up our marbles and go home, in what would amount to a snit.

Canada should consider pulling its troops out of Afghanistan if some of its NATO allies continue to refuse to allow their troops to fight on the front lines near Kandahar, says a Senate committee.

“NATO must deploy more resources in Afghanistan and use those resources in a better way than we have done to this point. If this proves impossible, Canada should be prepared to consider withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan as soon as our current commitment ends [Feb. 2009],” concludes a report by the Senate committee on national defence and security...

NATO has tried unsuccessfully to find thousands more troops to fight the Taliban insurgency in southern Afghanistan, where 36 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat were killed in the last year.

The report fingers Germany and France as two countries that refuse to allow their troops to deploy to the south from other, less volatile parts of the country.

The Senate panel’s top recommendation is for Canada to continue pressuring its NATO allies to provide additional troops to help train Afghan National Army troops. Canada should also send 250 additional army trainers, as well as 50 additional RCMP officers to train Afghan police, the report says...

The Toronto Star has its own take: "Senate report blasts mission". A CTV story highlights Pakistan, development and corruption. From the CBC story:

"Afghanistan is only remotely connected to the modern world," it [the report] warns. "Anyone expecting to see the emergence in Afghanistan within the next several decades of a recognizable modern democracy capable of delivering justice and amenities to its people is dreaming in Technicolor."

Only too true, I think (a Reuters story uses the same quote).

Full report is here.

This is an interesting recommendation in the report's Executive Summary (via Army.ca):

7. in the next year and in subsequent fiscal years, until NGOs are able to safely function in Kandahar, CIDA provide from its budget $20 million directly to the Canadian Forces for their use in local development projects by Afghans.

Update: Thomas Walkom of the Toronto Star concludes the war is lost and Canada should bug right out.