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MacKay Says Canada Knocked on a Few NATO Doors and Some Opened

Posted on: Friday, 8 February 2008, 15:00 CST

By Murray Brewster, THE CANADIAN PRESS

VILNIUS, Lithuania - The battle to keep Canada fighting in Afghanistan was waged Friday on several fronts, including a high-level meeting in Paris, backroom arm-twisting among NATO defence ministers and a challenge to the opposition at home.

"We've achieved some success," said Defence Minister Peter MacKay, who came to Lithuania with an ultimatum for reluctant allies who have, by and large, stubbornly refused to send combat troops to the volatile southern region of Afghanistan.

The French have dropped several hints that they might be prepared to come to Canada's aid in Kandahar.

Ottawa was quick to pounce on these signals with the dispatch of a team to Paris for followup discussions. The delegation is led by Ian Brodie, the chief of staff for Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"We knocked on a lot of doors; some of them opened," said MacKay as he prepared to fly home after two days of informal meetings with his NATO counterparts.

"France is one of those countries, now that we're going to continue to have some discussions about logistically how we can make it happen."

Behind the scenes in Vilnius, French officials took pains to emphasize they likely couldn't provide the entire contingent of 1,000 troops that Canada is demanding as reinforcements.

The French officials also suggested it's doubtful a firm commitment could be made before April, as Canada wants.

In sideline discussions with MacKay on Thursday, the French defence minister said his country would help but did not get in to specifics.

Ottawa has demanded not only extra troops but also help from allies to acquire battlefield helicopters and sophisticated unmanned aerial drones for surveillance.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer seemed almost relieved to hear that the Canadians and French were talking after months of public sniping among the allies over sharing the burden.

He urged alliance members to tread softly.

"Let us leave the French to their own decision-making process," de Hoop Scheffer said Friday.

The secretary general said he was given the impression during a meeting last week with French President Nicolas Sarkozy that France was considering a shift in its long-standing policy of keeping its troops in the relatively quiet north of Afghanistan.

"I would say I would be very glad and happy to see that and so would others, but let us not interfere in the decision-making process," he added.

With 1,500 troops in Afghanistan, mostly in the Kabul area, France is seen as a good fit with the Canadians.

Most of Canada's 2,500 troops operate in Kandahar province, where Taliban insurgents are battling international forces that support the Afghan government.

So far, the French, German, Italians and Spanish have steadfastly refused to allow their troops to take part in combat. Some European governments say they prefer to concentrate on reconstruction.

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Friday lingering anger in Europe over the U.S. invasion of Iraq could explain why some allies are reluctant to send more combat troops to Afghanistan.

"Many of them, I think, have a problem with our involvement in Iraq and project that to Afghanistan," Gates said on a flight to Munich after the Vilnius meeting. He said he would try change the "confused" perception of the two conflicts.

MacKay also approached other countries for help in Vilnius, but he declined to name them.

Having the French fill only part of the troop request would put Canada in the same boat as the Netherlands, which had to cobble together several companies of soldiers from Hungary and Slovenia last fall to meet its requirements.

MacKay said he made it clear to allies that Ottawa has a tight timeline, as evident Friday with the introduction of a motion in the House of Commons to extend the current Afghan mission to February 2011, two years past the current deadline.

The motion has the potential to plunge Canada into an election.

Among NATO officials, the looming showdown in Ottawa was greeted with a mixture of admiration and nervousness.

Some saw it as a bold stroke and a sign of Canada's resolve to stay in the fight. Others were worried, however, about the possibility a defeat of the Conservatives, especially if a new government decides to withdraw troops.

Soren Gade, Denmark's defence minister, said Europeans are watching what is happening in Canada closely and would be "shocked" if there is a pullout.

"Of course, it's the wrong way if some country starts to bring troops home, but I can fully understand what your minister said because he has to deal with the situation back home," he said.

Gade said MacKay told his counterparts Canada needs an answer about getting more troops by the time the Commons votes on the motion - or at the latest in early April at the NATO summit in Romania.

Gade ruled out moving around any of Denmark's 700 troops to meet Canada's demand, saying his country is already well positioned and fighting alongside the British in Helmand province - another hotbed of Taliban activity in southern Afghanistan.

Poland, which is adding 400 soldiers to its contingent of 1,200, made it clear Thursday at the meeting that it doesn't want its forces broken up and parceled around Afghanistan. But its offer of two Mi-17 transport helicopters for NATO's southern forces still stands.

Norway, which has 500 soldiers in Afghanistan, will deploy special forces and helicopters in March involving a total of 200 extra troops, Defence Minister Anne-Grete Strom-Erichsen said.

Source: Canadian Press

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