Democrats, Afghanistan and Canada

A letter of mine in the Toronto Star Jan. 16:

Canada will taste the U.S. appetite for change

Column, Jan. 13

Rudyard Griffiths writes that "voters are warming to candidates who espouse ... scaling back overseas military missions." Canadians should be aware that is not the position of the two leading Democratic candidates with respect to Afghanistan. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are both more hawkish than our government, not to mention the Liberals, NDP and Bloc.

Obama wants the U.S. to send more troops "to reinforce our counter-terrorism operations" in Afghanistan, and wants European members of NATO to eliminate the caveats that prevent their forces from fighting. Clinton has written that "our military effort must be reinforced. The Taliban cannot be allowed to regain power in Afghanistan; if they return, Al Qaeda will return with them."

It would seem likely that a Democratic president would be disappointed with a decision by Canada to abandon our Kandahar mission.

Mark Collins, Ottawa