PARIS – Prime Minister Stephen Harper declined Friday to walk through the door opened for him by the opposition Liberals this week to keep some Canadian troops in Afghanistan after 2011.
While touring Afghanistan with an all-party committee of MPs earlier this week, Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae said his party was committed to exploring all possibilities for a new Canadian mission in Afghanistan after its combat mission ends next year. That represented a shift for the Liberals who, like the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois, had wanted all Canadian soldiers out of the country.
"The door is open to serious discussion in Canada and between NATO about what the future looks like," Rae told reporters in Kabul.
But Harper, after meetings here with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, would not pick up on Rae’s suggestion.
"I note (Rae’s) words with some interest," Harper said. "I think we’ve been very clear. We’re working according to the parliamentary resolution that was adopted in 2008 by which Canada’s military mission will end and will transition to a civilian and development mission at the end of 2011. And that continues to be our workplan according to the resolution adopted by Parliament."
The House of Commons standing committee on defence and national security is expected to shortly begin debating the focus of that post-2011 mission and what kind of resources, civilian or military, will be required to accomplish that mission.
In Ottawa, Minister of State Peter Kent of Foreign Affairs told reporters after question period that "there’s no wiggle room at all" despite Rae’s overture. "As I said in the House, the parliamentary resolution of 2008 made it quite clear that Canada’s combat mission will end in 2011 and it will become a civilian and a development mission."
Kent appeared to dismiss Rae. "The committee is free to talk about whatever it wants," he said.
"In fact, we think that some of the opposition members of the committee have been irresponsible in recent months in refusing to accept the motion made by government members of the committee to consider post-2011 mission dimensions."
Responding to New Democrat Paul Dewar, Kent urged the special committee on the mission in Afghanistan, which has spent most of its time discussing Afghan detainees since last fall, to prepare suggestions for Canada’s post-2011 role and forward them to the government. Dewar wondered when Parliament had become "a suggestion box."
With a file from Juliet O’Neill
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