Liberals Prepared to extend Afghan Mission

Some good news...Liberals prepared to extend Afghan mission till 2011 but after that want a complete withdrawal. No way will the Tory's except a complete withdrawal by 2011. I think there will be another debate on the mission after the next campaign will be close to a finish.

OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he feels "great progress has been made" after Stephane Dion threw the Liberal party's conditional support to a continued role for Canada in Afghanistan until 2011.

"I welcome the greater clarity in the Liberal position on the mission in Afghanistan," a visibly cheered Harper told a news conference. "We will examine all of their proposals in detail before responding to all of them, but I think important progress has been made."

A few minutes earlier, Dion revealed that the Liberals would support Canada staying in Afghanistan for two years longer than scheduled, but the combat role must end by next February.

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Mr. Dion also attached conditions to his support for Canada's military engagement. They include:that NATO secure troops to rotate into Kandahar to allow Canadian troops to be deployed in areas of training and reconstruction; that the government secure more equipment, such as helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles, and that the government immediately notify NATO that Canada will end its military presence in Kandahar as of Feb. 1, 2011, with Canadian Forces to be completely out of Afghanistan by July 1, 2011.

Last Friday, the government presented a confidence motion outlining the active combat role Canada should play in Afghanistan until 2011. The Liberal position, revealed Tuesday, would take the form of an amendment to the government's motion. If the motion does not get enough support in the Commons, the minority government would fall and Canadians would be heading to the polls for the third time in four years.

When asked whether the Liberal amendment would help avoid sending Canadians to the polls, Mr. Harper said he agrees with the Liberals in the view that it is not "desirable for the government or for the country to fight an election over this issue."

"It is desirable for us to find a bipartisan consensus. And I don't think in the end it matters whether it's a Conservative motion or a Liberal motion because it can't be a Conservative mission or a Liberal mission. It must be a Canadian mission that there's some degree of consensus on."