Will NATO rise to the challenge in Afghanistan?
January 31, 2008 - 7:50pm
The independent Manley Panel on Afghanistan recommends that Canadian troops continue in their current role past its current mandate, set to expire in 2009. Canadian soldiers are in Afghanistan as part of the UN-authorized NATO force with provides security to the war-torn country.
Members of Canada's federal minority government have endorsed the recommendation, with the caveat (also mentioned by the Manley Panel) that Canadian troops receive NATO reinforcements and heavy equipment.
The announcement raises two questions:
1. Will NATO rise to the challenge?
2. If Canadians are to extend the mission, how might our soldiers’ role change over time?
February 1, 2008 - 12:04am
#1
Hard questions, but what I
Hard questions, but what I find interesting is that Manley's essential conclusion was supported by Ban Ki-Moon's weirdly under-reported essay published in the Globe and Mail online edition only, calling the troops-out position "a misjudgment of historic proportions" and "almost more dismaying" than the Taliban's opportunism.
And Manley's findings correspond with two other major reviews, both American. concluded in recent days. One is the report of the Afghanistan Study Group. The other is from the Atlantic Council of the United States.
