Pull troops from Afghanistan by February: Layton

NDP Leader Jack Layton says Canada should pull its troops out of Afghanistan by February of 2007, ending its involvement in what he called a "George Bush-style counter-insurgency war."

"It's a mission that is not well-conceived, it's not balanced, it has no comprehensive strategy to achieve peace associated with it," Layton said at a news conference in Ottawa on Thursday.

Layton said Canada should not follow the lead of the U.S. president in Afghanistan, but instead should focus on "humanitarian aid, reconstruction and a comprehensive peace process — not a George Bush-style counter-insurgency war."

Layton said Ottawa should follow a made-in-Canada foreign policy that is "rooted in fact, not fear; one that is uniquely independent, not ideologically imported; and one that leads the world into peace, not follows the U.S. into wars."

"Why are we blindly following the defence policy prescriptions of the Bush administration?" he asked.

Layton blasted both the Liberals and Conservatives who claim the country is being made safer by the mission in Afghanistan, where Canada has more than 2,200 troops and recently took over command of the NATO forces in the southern part of the country.

"But Canadians are asking themselves whether Canada's role in this war is actually making our country less secure," he said.

Since the mission started four years ago, 28 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan.