Canada's top general pressured lawmakers to support a motion extending the country's military mission in Afghanistan, saying extended debate may be opening its soldiers up to attacks by the Taliban.
Chief of Defense Staff General Rick Hillier said on Friday that the Taliban was watching the political debate over whether to extend Canada's operation in dangerous southern Afghanistan past next February and was looking for signs of weakness.
"We are, in the eyes of the Taliban, in a window of extreme vulnerability. And the longer we go without that clarity, with the issue in doubt, the more the Taliban will target us as a perceived weak link," Hillier said.
He said he could not rule out that Taliban suicide bombings last week may have been related to the parliamentary debate. A suicide car bomb explosion targeting a Canadian military convoy killed 37 civilians on Monday and more than 100 people were killed on Feb. 13 by a suicide bomber outside Kandahar City.
"I'm not going to stand here and tell you that the suicide bombings of this past week have been related to the debate back here in Canada. But I also cannot stand here and say that they are not," Hillier said.
"And, certainly, there is a perception out there that the Taliban will try to take advantage of the debate back here [in Canada] and try to prevent a cohesive mission and will indeed attempt to attack our Canadian Forces in Kandahar," he said.
Canada's minority Conservative government has been trying to extend the military operation in Afghanistan's Kandahar Province, the former Taliban stronghold. The government faced pressure from the opposition to withdraw Canada's troops after the deaths of 78 soldiers and a diplomat.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled a proposal on Thursday to withdraw forces in 2011. The proposal resulted from a compromise with opposition Liberals, who were against extending the mission and had threatened to force a vote aimed at toppling the government.
Parliament will vote on extending the mission next month -- a confidence vote that would trigger early elections if rejected. An agreement would avoid an early election over the issue.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
RSS