Defence Minister Peter MacKay says more U.S. troops in Afghanistan will help "share the burden" with Canadian soldiers, but repeated criticism that other NATO countries are failing to pull their weight in the country.
MacKay, who recently attended a two-day meeting with NATO defence ministers in Krakow, Poland, said the U.S. surge of 17,000 soldiers is good news for Canada.
"A large majority of those troops will be coming into southern Afghanistan and Kandahar province, where Canada has over 2,800 soldiers serving," MacKay told CTV's Question Period on Sunday.
"This will clearly reinforce our effort to bring security on the ground, particularly on the border area, where they're going to send about 8,000 marines -- a striker brigade -- with high mobility.
"This will help to bring about the type of stability that will help us get on with the other reconstruction and development efforts currently underway."
The U.S. already has about 20,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, making it by far the largest NATO contributor.
But other NATO allies -- specifically, Germany and France -- have come under fire for stationing soldiers in relatively safe regions, where the Taliban do not pose as much of a threat.
France has 3,500 soldiers that are mainly active around the capital of Kabul, while German troops are in the north.
During a trip to London last week, MacKay said Afghanistan represents a defining moment for NATO in the 21st century, and the organization will have to evaluate its purpose if it cannot rise to the occasion.
"The meeting that we had in Krakow was again an effort to engage some of the other NATO countries to pick up the slack and to contribute more, particularly in the south, where we know this has been the homeland of the Taliban," MacKay told Question Period.
The question of whether NATO countries will boost troop commitments may become more urgent as Canada approaches its 2011 deadline to withdraw soldiers from Afghanistan. After that, Canada will focus solely on development and reconstruction.
"Life will go on after 2011," Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae told Question Period. "There will continue to be Canadian engagement -- engagement in development, engagement in police training, engagement in broader diplomacy.
"But that requires security by NATO."
Recent development projects include the building of about 50 schools, an immunization program for children, and the Dahla Dam initiative, a proposed irrigation system that will help farmers make the transition from opium crops.
