Afstan post-2011: Why should MND MacKay care very much?

After all, the prime minister said recently:

...
"Canada's military mission in Afghanistan will end in 2011," Harper told reporters. "And we will not be extending the military mission, period."..

So I guess Mr MacKay is musing about something that really will not concern his department:

Too early to decide post-2011 role for Canada: MacKay

Canada is awaiting an election decision in Afghanistan and a U.S. military strategy review before setting a course for its post-2011 Afghan mission, Defence Minister Peter MacKay says.

Those issues must be dealt with before figuring out where Canada fits in the multinational effort to secure and rebuild Afghanistan.

A runoff presidential election is set for Nov. 7 after vote fraud forced officials to throw out thousands of ballots for incumbent Hamid Karzai in a probe of the Aug. 20 poll. A ruling on a new U.S. military strategy that could send up to 40,000 additional soldiers to the country is also expected soon.

"There's a number of unknowns, a number of issues right now we're waiting on," MacKay said.

He was responding to recent comments by Gen. Rick Hillier, the former chief of defence staff, that there is no role for Canada outside of the southern province of Kandahar, and no way to stay involved without engaging in combat [see 2) here].

Lord but this government is all over the map with its incoherent dancing. More on their tergiversation here, here, here, here and here.