Manley panel recommends extending Afghan mission

OTTAWA—A high-profile panel appointed by the prime minister is recommending that Canada’s military mission in southern Afghanistan be extended—on two conditions.
Canadian troops should continue their mission in Kandahar province beyond 2009 if they receive additional equipment and more support from other countries, says the panel headed by former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley.

The panel also suggests gradually refocusing the mission on reconstruction, training, and diplomacy rather than combat.
The military mission in the war-torn country is due to end in February, 2009, but the 90-page report says the mission should be extended if:
•a new battle group is deployed by the UN’s International Security Assistance Force to Kandahar province, enabling Canadian forces to accelerate training of the Afghan National Army; and
•the government secures new, medium-lift helicopters and high-performance unmanned aerial vehicles by February, 2009.
“We are recommending a Canadian commitment to Afghanistan that is neither open-ended nor faint-hearted,” Manley said in a statement.
“What is evident is that the commitment to Afghanistan made by successive Canadian governments has not yet been completed.
“The ultimate objective is to enable the Afghans to manage their own security,” he added.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who called the report “substantial,” said the government will respond to the recommendations later in the week.
“The government has every intention of looking at it carefully in detail,” he said. “We’ll respond thoroughly within the next few days.”
Manley later said Canada was right to send troops to fight in Afghanistan.
“Our presence in Afghanistan is fully justified, whether considered from the point of view of international law, humanitarian needs, or Canadian and global interests in security,” he said at a news conference.
“If we’re not willing to lend our military resources when asked to do so by the United Nations, in a mission co-ordinated by NATO, in a country whose democratically-elected government wants us and whose citizens desperately need us, then we wonder where and when Canada would do so.
“Canada’s presence in Afghanistan matters.”
The blue-ribbon report is sure to reignite debate over one of the thorniest issues facing Parliament and the Conservatives. Polls suggest most Canadians would like to see Canadian troops come home as scheduled next year.
Harper has promised a vote on the mission’s future, and Canada’s NATO allies need to be informed by May or June at the latest.
Manley emphasized Canada’s mission in Afghanistan simply cannot be wound down in a year.
“This is a tall order and the panel concludes it cannot all be achieved in the next 12 months,” he said. “We found no operational logic around ending the mission in February, 2009 or any real ability to complete the job by that date.
“Canadian Forces will withdraw from Afghanistan. The question is: When?
“We believe that an immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan, without making an effort to achieve a better result for Afghans, would squander our investment and dishonour our sacrifice to date,” Manley said.
Just days after naming the panel, the Conservative throne speech made it clear the government wanted to maintain the military mission in Afghanistan until at least 2011.
All evidence since then suggests planning has continued behind the scenes based on that scenario. Regiments to cover the next three years already have been identified by staff officers at National Defence.
A source said the call went out within the army in November for reservists to volunteer for rotations in the fall of 2010.
Foreign Affairs, meanwhile, is staffing positions at the provincial reconstruction base in Kandahar City well into 2009.
And earlier this month, National Defence posted a call for tenders on major construction projects worth between $500,000 and $10 million in Kandahar—suggesting military planners don’t anticipate a major shift of Canadian operations in just 12 months’ time.
Some critics said the fix was in on the panel from the get-go.
Harper appointed the five-member group in October to, in the prime minister’s words, “make sure we have a rational and considered debate.”
Manley, a prominent former Liberal foreign affairs minister, was a hawkish member of the Jean Chrétien government.
He was joined on the panel by Derek Burney, former ambassador to Washington, chief of staff to Tory prime minister Brian Mulroney, and the leader of Harper’s 2006 transition team.
Rounding out the panel were Jake Epp, a former Mulroney cabinet minister; Paul Tellier, former clerk of the privy council; and broadcaster Pamela Wallin, a former consul general in New York.
By naming the well-respected Manley to lead the group, Harper insulated himself from official Opposition criticism.
“When you have a tough job to do, I guess you have to find a Liberal to give you the advice,” Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae said at the time.