Afstan: The "Q" word

But did M. Dion actually use it? I can't find it in a direct quote in the story. Is the Globe and Mail engaged in its normal anti-mission spin?

The Canadian military is heading into a quagmire in Afghanistan under the Conservative government, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion warned yesterday in comments intended to show the differences between the two parties on the military mission.

Mr. Dion offered his condolences to the families of the eight soldiers who died this week before launching a blistering critique of the Harper government's refusal to guarantee when Canada will be out of Afghanistan.

“We have to tell NATO that in February, 2009, our combat mission in Kandahar is finished,” Mr. Dion said. “We face the risk of getting bogged down with the current Prime Minister, of getting bogged down in an incompetent manner. Imagine what they [the Conservatives] would do if they had a majority. Happily, we will never find out.”..

Even though the mission was started under the previous Liberal government, it was extended until 2009 by Mr. Harper's government. Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said yesterday that cabinet would not even consider another extension until the summer of 2008...

M. Dion appears unaware that Mr O'Connor has outlined an "exit strategy", if not a precise timetable. The Quebec City meeting of certain defence ministers took a similar line:

Canada and other NATO allies on the dangerous front lines in southern Afghanistan are calling on other countries to step up and help train Afghan army and police units, the key backbone of an allied exit strategy.

Meeting yesterday {April 12] in this city's historic Citadel fortress, high-ranking representatives from eight nations made a uniform plea to the broader NATO coalition for help in training Afghan authorities to eventually take over security duties in the country...

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates was... blunt, saying the United States wants European allies to fill 3,400 police and army training positions in Afghanistan...

NDP leader Jack Layton also seems unaware of the strategy and just wants to give up:

"This mission has no defined possibility of military success, and therefore we should be bringing our troops home," he told Sun Media. "We should map out, with those many nations that are working in Afghanistan without participating in counter-insurgency warfare that's not working, a strategy to work with them to bring development to Afghanistan."..

The Taliban sure will welcome all that aid money.