Troops may stay in Afghanistan after 2011: MacKay

The Conservative government will let Parliament decide what Canada's future role in Afghanistan will be beyond 2011, two cabinet ministers say.

The country's troops may stay in Afghanistan in a non-combat role, Defence Minister Peter MacKay told the House of Commons defence committee in Ottawa on Thursday.

It is the third time in recent weeks that MacKay has raised the issue. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said Canada will pull its troops out of Afghanistan by 2011.

Even if that is the case, it is widely expected in military and diplomatic circles that hundreds — and perhaps as many as 1,000 Canadian military personnel — will stay in what's vaguely termed "non-combat" roles.

During an appearance before the federal defence committee on Thursday, MacKay clarified the matter, saying the role of the troops would shift from fighting a war to development and reconstruction, which involves such things as training and helping the Afghans enhance their own security within the country.

He sidestepped the question of how Canada will carry out such a mission with the resurgency of the Taliban in many parts of southern Afghanistan.

Outside the committee room, MacKay told reporters: "So there's a lot of speculation about what the mission will look like. What I can tell you is that it won't include combat, and it will look much different than it does today."

While the federal cabinet has the authority to define the issue on its own, the Tories will respect a motion passed in March 2008 to withdraw troops until a new motion is tabled in the Commons, he said.

"Until such time as there is a new motion before the Parliament, or a new decision taken, we will respect the guidelines and the direction that we have received from the existing motion," MacKay said.

Earlier in the week, Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai, the parliamentary secretary to the foreign affairs minister, also said a future mission will be brought before Parliament.

In late September, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, called for an additional 40,000 combat troops in Afghanistan.

NATO contributes roughly two-thirds of the more than 100,000 international troops now involved in Afghanistan operations, including more than 3,000 Canadians. A total of 131 Canadian troops have died since the mission began in 2002.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama is rethinking the U.S. strategy on Afghanistan. His two main options are to bolster the 68,000 troops already there or to try routing out the Taliban in Pakistan with unmanned drones.