For a long time, a lot of people have been asking, "When will the government admit that the military cannot continue doing everything it is doing or do anything more?" This is probably the closest thing we will see to such a statment.
Ottawa takes fire for ending mission
By JEFF SALLOT
With reports from Kim Lunman and Barrie McKenna
From Wednesday‘s
Globe and Mail
Ottawa — The decision to pull Canadian infantry troops out of Afghanistan this summer is further evidence of just how stretched the military has become, former generals and military analysts say.
The announcement sends the wrong political signal to Washington at the wrong time, they say: that Canada is not taking the terrorism threat seriously, even as U.S. officials are warning of possible new attacks.
Defence Minister Art Eggleton said Ottawa is withdrawing 850 infantry soldiers in late July and early August even though the Pentagon wanted to keep the Canadians in Afghanistan longer.
Canadian Alliance defence critic Leon Benoit said the pullout from Afghanistan is the result of years of Liberal neglect of the Canadian Forces and budget cuts.
Canada should have quit the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia rather than the campaign in Afghanistan, said David Rudd, executive director of the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies.
"The government shut down the wrong mission."
Unlike the Bosnian operation, the war in Afghanistan directly affects Canadian national security, Mr. Rudd said.
The government cannot live up to its own defence policy commitment to be able to put two battle groups into the field at the same time, retired major-general Clive Addy said. "The bench is empty."
The strain is hitting master corporals and other non-commissioned officers particularly hard. The fast tempo of overseas deployments in recent years is putting so much stress on these middle ranks "it is bordering on abuse," Mr. Addy told CTV News.
Retired major-general Lewis Mackenzie, the former United Nations commander in Sarajevo, said the government is making a major political mistake, letting down Canada‘s most important ally.
The contributions of the navy and air force are not going to earn Canada the credit ground troops will, "and this game is about getting credit where it counts," Mr. Mackenzie said.
If the soldiers themselves could decide the issue, they would rather be on combat missions in Afghanistan and not "directing traffic in Bosnia," Mr. Mackenzie said.
The Canadian ground force will pack up this summer even though Mr. Eggleton and General Ray Henault, chief of the defence staff, acknowledged that the war against terrorism will continue for a long time.
U.S. commanders who are leading the Afghan operation asked if Canadian infantry troops would stay, "but they understood we couldn‘t stay," Mr. Eggleton told a news conference, acknowledging that the Canadian Forces are stretched to the limit.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, U.S. General Tommy Franks praised the work of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, calling the Princess Patricia‘s Canadian Light Infantry "a magnificent outfit."
Gen. Franks, commander of the U.S.-led Afghan campaign, denied a suggestion that the brigade‘s pullout signaled that the Canadian forces aren‘t up to par or that the enthusiasm of some of the coalition partners may be waning.
"Good for PPLI. They‘ve done an absolutely wonderful job," he said. "What we try to do in this coalition is to cycle our forces in and out for ther purpose or rearming, refitting and in fact resting."
Gen. Franks also suggested that the Canadian withdrawal might well be co-ordinated with the arrival of fresh troops from another coalition partner.
Canada will replace 40 commandos from the elite Joint Task Force 2 with a fresh contingent of about the same size. But the 850-member battle group from the Edmonton-based Princess Patricia‘s Canadian Light Infantry will return at the end of its six-month tour of duty.
Six months has become the standard length for overseas operations deployment for Canadian troops since the Korean War in the early 1950s.
Extending the current tour for several months was an option, but the cabinet rejected the idea.
Mr. Eggleton said the deaths of four soldiers in Afghanistan last month when their unit was accidentally bombed by a U.S. warplane were tragic, but were not a factor in the decision to pull out the infantry.
"We‘re stretched [thin]. There‘s no doubt about it," Mr. Eggleton said, noting that Canada has a total of 3,800 service personnel on overseas missions from Bosnia to the Golan Heights.
Thousands of soldiers, including reservists, will be busy next month providing security for the Group of Eight summit meeting in Alberta.
Canada might also be asked to play some kind of military role in the Middle East if there is a peace agreement, Mr. Eggleton said.
Mr. Eggleton said Canada "will continue to make a significant contribution" to the U.S.-led coalition‘s war against terrorism by maintaining warships in the Arabian Sea and air transport for resupply flights. The number of air force and naval personnel involved will be about 1,300.
Canadian officers might also help to train a new Afghan national army, the minister said.
Mr. Eggleton said it is possible that Canadian ground troops could return to Afghanistan next year. Hundreds of Canadian soldiers may be freed up next spring as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization scales back its peacekeeping force in Bosnia. About 1,700 Canadian soldiers are serving there now.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant-General Mike Jeffrey, the commander of the army, told the Commons defence committee Tuesday that the army needs more resources. "Clearly [more resources are] going to cost money," he said, when pressed for details on the costs. "I‘m not going to sit here and put a price tag on it."
