Canada should consider withdrawing from Afghanistan unless its NATO allies deliver additional troops to the international mission, a Senate of Canada committee recommended on Monday.
In its 45-page report, the Senate's national security and defense committee described the mission of stabilizing Afghanistan as an uphill battle that could take decades.
It also described the mission as a major test for NATO in the post-Cold War era -- and suggested Canada should consider a pullout if other NATO countries refuse to pitch in more troops.
"We expect the allies to step up," said Senator Colin Kenny, the committee chair.
"They must know that if they're not going to step up, we're going to take another look at the situation. It's an alliance and everyone is expected to be shoulder-to-shoulder on this," he told reporters at a news conference.
The reluctance of Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Turkey to provide more combat troops in southern Afghanistan has irked countries on the front lines, raising concern over a possible split within the alliance.
The seven NATO nations with troops in the Taliban's southern heartland -- the US, Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, Romania and Estonia -- held meetings on the sidelines of the alliance gathering in Seville, Spain, on Friday.
Canada has some 2,500 troops in Afghanistan. UK and US soldiers make up more than half of the 35,000-strong NATO force there.
The UK and the US on Friday played down talk of a rift in with their NATO allies over their reluctance to commit more troops to Afghanistan.
"I frankly think that that difference has been exaggerated," US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said after holding talks with his French counterpart.
"I think we see eye to eye," he said.
But Canada has long called for more troops in Afghanistan, noting that its military is limited and already overextended.
Kenny said that Canadian diplomats and military officials had estimated that it might take anywhere from two decades to five generations to stabilize the country.
Kenny, a Liberal Party member, said anyone who expects a sophisticated, Western-style democracy to develop quickly is "dreaming in Technicolor."
Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has also called on NATO allies to step up their troop commitments, though he frequently couches his demands by saying that Canadians believe the fight against terrorism includes weeding out the Taliban from southern Afghanistan.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS