Parliament needs to give Canada's troops "clarity of purpose" in Afghanistan because Canadians are battling an opportunistic enemy that is striking at perceived weakness, the country's top soldier said Friday.
Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of defence staff, even suggested that a recent spate of suicide bombing attacks in Afghanistan is a result of political indecision in Ottawa.
"In the eyes of the Taliban we are in a window of extreme vulnerability," Hillier said of the debate surrounding the government motion to extend the Kandahar mission from 2009 to the end of 2011.
"The longer we go without that clarity, with the issue in doubt, the more the Taliban will target us as a perceived weak link."
Hillier was speaking at a defence conference in Ottawa and said a clear and robust mandate with political and public support is the least the troops in Afghanistan can ask for.
"I'll ask this on their behalf, is it too much to ask that our Parliament . . . show their support for the men and women who will execute the mission by voting overwhelmingly to support them in the danger and risks they will encounter."
Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre said on Mike Duffy Live that he took that as Hillier asking Parliament to support the current motion. But Conservative Laurie Hawn, the parliamentary secretary for defence, responded that Hillier was referring to a separate motion.
The Tory motion announced Thursday has Canada setting a firm end of 2011 as a date to leave the volatile region of Kandahar. It also includes a Liberal proposal to focus the mission on training and reconstruction after next February.
But Hillier also said that his military needed to be able to go after threats on the ground, noting that Canadian troops had recently hunted down six Taliban commanders who masterminded attacks against coalition soldiers.
He reminded his audience of the 1990s in Bosnia, where UN troops were limited to self-defence and often couldn't intervene against ethnic cleansing.
Hillier's comments were echoed by retired Maj. Gen. Lewis MacKenzie, who spoke Friday to Canada AM.
"You (have to) push the enemy away from development projects," MacKenzie said. "You can't just circle the covered wagons around (the projects)."
MacKenzie also expressed surprise on how slow the political response has been to extend the Afghan mission following the independent panel's, led by John Manley, report on the mission.
"I'm really amazed it took this long to come to a compromise," MacKenzie said of the Conservative and Liberal positions.
Much of the difference between the two parties' motions on Afghanistan had to do with the Liberal's insistence that Canada be replaced by another NATO county in the lead combat role in Afghanistan.
The new government motion is not so specific and could only mean that NATO must send more troops to reinforce the Canadian contingent.
