"All the News not Fit to Print"

The Canadian Minister of National Defence meets with the US Secretary of Defense in Washington to discuss Afghanistan. Something that should be given serious news coverage in Canada, right? Wrong. As far as I can find the meeting has barely been mentioned in our media--a decent CP story at the CTV and CANOE websites, and some paragraphs towards the end of this Canwest News piece carried by some of their papers. Note what the story considers to be the big Canadian news about Afstan:

Envoy to Afghanistan back in play
Time for Canada to reconsider, Cannon says after NATO meeting

...MacKay met U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates in Washington to discuss the future of Canadian involvement in Afghanistan.

Speaking to reporters later, MacKay defended Harper against criticisms of his statement to CNN last weekend that NATO forces were "not ever going to defeat the insurgency." Harper's comments were not any different in substance than the views expressed by U.S. President Barack Obama, who has said the Afghan conflict cannot be won strictly through military force, MacKay said.

"I think he very much echoed the comments of both President Obama and others who have said, essentially, that military might alone is not going to do it when it comes to Afghanistan. It is going to require much more," MacKay said. "It's going to require, obviously, to build the capacity of the Afghan government to deliver more for the people, to do more on the training of the Afghan security forces, police and the army."

Harper's comments have stirred controversy and criticism that he is being defeatist...

MacKay again signalled that Canada's deadline for withdrawal of its combat forces from Afghanistan was firm, but he assured Gates that Canada would remain involved in the mission in other ways.

"Canada, post-2011, will play a role. We will absolutely be in Afghanistan performing important tasks," he said. "We will reconfigure what the face of that mission looks like.

"2011 is a fixed date to the end of combat. There is much more that can be done in Afghanistan beyond combat."

More about the meeting, of some significance, not covered in the above stories:

1) Press Trust of India:

US, Canada discusses Indian role in Afghanistan

Washington, Mar 6 (PTI) Acknowledging India as a key player in Afghanistan, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and his Canadian counterpart Peter Mackay today discussed New Delhi's role and its contribution in the development in the war-ravaged country.

Talking to reporters after the meeting between the two leaders, the Canadian Defence Minister Mackey said India figured in their talks in the context of viewing Afghanistan as a regional challenge.

"We touched briefly on the involvement of India within that context. And certainly that is also an important country, a very major player within the region," Mackey said as a joint media briefing with Secretary Gates.

This is possibly for the first time that the US and Canadian Defence Ministers have publicly acknowledged of having discussed India's role in Afghanistan.

In the Post-Taliban era, India has carried out massive developmental activities in Afghanistan, which has carved a very positive influence of India in the country.

"The comprehensive approach that Canada has taken in building capacity of the Government of Afghanistan, we think through that prism we should also be looking at ways that we can help the Pakistani people," Mackey said.

"But, of course Pakistan is a country that you absolutely have to include on the way forward and on the plans that will eventually lead to improved status for both countries," he added.

2) Associated Press of Pakistan:

Canada supports Pakistan’s capacity building, well being of its people

WASHINGTON, Mar 6 (APP): Canada has affirmed its support for development of the Pakistani people as well as building capacity of their government as its defense minister met with his U.S. counterpart to discuss an effective way forward in the Pak-Afghan border regions facing Taliban insurgency.

“The comprehensive approach that Canada has taken in building capacity of the government of Afghanistan, we think through that prism we should also be looking at ways that we can help the Pakistani people as well and building their capacity in certain regions,” Canadian Defense Minister Peter Mackay said Thursday.

In a joint stake-out with the media after meeting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the Pentagon, Mackay said in addition to deliberations on the Afghan situation, they also discussed the situation in the federally administered tribal areas and Swat.

“We’re watching, of course, very closely what’s developing inside Pakistan.”

He said “Pakistan is a country that you absolutely have to include on the way forward and on the plans that will eventually lead to improved status for both countries.”

Regarding the ongoing review of the policy toward the Pak-Afghan border region, he said: “I think Canadians recognize, as do others, that this review helps put in context the regional challenges; that this obviously goes beyond any one country.”

Defense Secretary Gates said the Barack Obama administration is continuing with its review of the U.S. policy toward Pakistan Afghanistan region.

“We are still eagerly soliciting ideas from our allies and friends, as we did from the Afghans and Pakistanis last week. This isn’t a pro forma exercise. We are genuinely interested in other people’s thinking on the way forward in Afghanistan.”

It really does seem to me that our media have increasingly lost interest in news reporting as such; rather they pick and spin what they report to fit whatever is politically controversial here.

Meanwhile, this could be important:

Clinton Wants to Include Iran in Afghan Talks

BRUSSELS — Setting up the prospect of its first face-to-face encounter with Iran, the Obama administration has proposed a major conference on Afghanistan this month that would include Iran among the invited countries, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday...

Now note the spin in a Globe and Mail story:...

That conference might also spark a move toward naming a so-called contact group for Afghanistan and Pakistan - a handful of countries, usually a mix of world and regional powers, who will steer global efforts, like the group created for Bosnia talks in the 1990s.

It's not clear, however, whether Canada would have a place in such a group.

Some experts believe that might be why Mr. Harper has so far dismissed calls to appoint a regional envoy: It could be an embarrassment to name an envoy only to see that person left out of the group handling the talks...

Just have to find a way to get a dig in at the prime minister.

Update: From Bruce Rolston:

In other news, water is wet

Globe headline, today:

"‘Safe havens' in Pakistan fuel Afghan insurgency: Mackay"

The Defence Minister has said the same thing on many occasions previously. Why writer Paul Koring thinks the latest repetition of a known fact would be newsworthy is really beyond me.

Quite.