U.S. Urges Canada To Stay in Afghanistan

The United States hopes the Canadian troops will "stay as long as they possibly can" in Afghanistan, U.S. President Barack Obama's national security adviser said yesterday as they encouraged the NATO nations To avoid "summary announcements of total withdrawal" from the war zone.

Speaking Thurs Foreign Reporters in Washington, retired General James Jones said Canada makes a "critical contribution" to the war effort but gave no indication the U.S. Ottawa has approached Thurs extend the Canadian combat mission over the past July 2011.

"Canada has made such a huge contribution to the mission in Afghanistan for so long that it is a charter member of the effort," Jones said.

"So I think that while we would Encourage everyone to stay engaged as long as possible without announcements summary of total withdrawal, those are national decisions that have to be made.

"We hope Canada and the Netherlands and other countries that are key members of this effort will be Able to stay as long as they possibly can, because they make such a critical contribution." Jones's remarks came as NATO announced 25 nations would Contribute additional 7.000 soldiers to Afghanistan in the wake of Obama's announcement this week that the U.S. 30.000 will send new troops to the Afghan mission.

The U.S. now has about 68.000 troops in Afghanistan, while NATO and non-NATO forces number about 38.000.Read Morehttp://www.montrealgazette.com/news/urges+Canada+stay+Afghanistan/2306302/story.html

U.S. Urges Canada To Stay in Afghanistan