Mullen: U.S. Will Adjust For Canadian Withdrawal

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
DefenseNews.com
February 10, 2009
By David Pugliese
U.S. forces will adjust accordingly when Canada pulls out its 2,800 troops from southern Afghanistan in 2011, says Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Speaking Feb. 10 at a press conference in Ottawa, Mullen said he has not discussed Canada's 2011 pullout plan with Canada's defense chief, Gen. Walter Natynczyk, or Canadian government officials.
In September, Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the surprise announcement that Canada's military would end its mission in Afghanistan in 2011. Support for the Afghan war has been dropping in Canada as casualties mount. So far, 108 Canadian military personnel have been killed and hundreds more wounded.
Canada, which has the bulk of its troops in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, has borne the brunt of intense fighting there over the last several years.
"I'm aware 2011 is out there, but literally, I have not discussed that policy or the impact of it with Gen. Natynczyk or the government leaders," Mullen said. "The Canadian Forces is a great combat force, and they've made a difference. In the fight we're in, having partners like this is absolutely vital. But it is for the government of Canada to make that decision."
The admiral said that plans will be made to deal with the Canadian pullout.
"We look at the realities of what we see coming, and we'll make plans accordingly," he said. "Certainly if it is the intent of Canada to leave in 2011 we'll adjust. And adjust in a way to meet a very difficult and challenging insurgency."
Natynczyk, the Canadian defense chief, said he has received clear instructions from the Canadian government to end the Afghan mission in 2011, and that is what he is planning to do.
Mullen said security in Kandahar and Helmand provinces has to improve to the point where there are enough forces not only to seize control of territory from the Taliban, but continue to hold that territory. That is not happening now, he said.
He said his main concern in Afghanistan is improving governance at all levels of the Afghan government, so that corruption and other issues can be taken care of.
"That's our biggest shortfall right now," Mullen said.
On Feb. 9, Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay told a House of Commons defense committee that Canada's mission in Kandahar is making gains and is worth the 18 billion Canadian dollars ($15 billion) that it is projected to cost by the end of 2011.
"Afghanistan was the largest exporter of terror in our lifetime, so our efforts there to bring about some semblance of security and democracy continue to be a very worthy cause," MacKay later told journalists. "Now that's costly. A military mission by its very nature is expensive."
 
Back
Top