Canada's new defence minister Peter MacKay says parliamentary debate leading up to a vote in the fall will give Canadians a new insight into the nation's role in Afghanistan.
Canada's combat role in Afghanistan is scheduled to end in February, 2009 unless MPs in the House of Commons vote to extend the mission.
Most analysts believe that is unlikely to happen, with the opposition parties urging the government to begin backing away from the combat role.
During an interview that aired on CTV's Question Period on Sunday, MacKay was asked whether Canada should send a message to NATO that its combat role will most likely end when the deadline arrives.
MacKay didn't directly address the question, but said Canada is in contact with its allies.
"We're in regular contact with NATO. I speak to Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the secretary general, I speak with our NATO allies, as does the prime minister, as does our new foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier, so there's no lack of communication taking place," MacKay said.
"As far as the signal that has been sent already, our current configuration will end in February 2009, obviously the aid work and the diplomatic effort and presence will extend well beyond that, and the Afghan compact itself goes until 2011."
MacKay said Afghanistan has experienced great progress in the years since the U.S.-led invasion in 2002. Women are now taking part in government, girls are allowed to attend school and roads and schools are being built under the protection of Canadian troops.
"I hearken back to where that country was just five or six years ago -- an incubator for terrorism that was being exported all over the world -- and North America we know is not immune," MacKay said.
MacKay said the government needs to do a better job of explaining how Canadian involvement is helping Afghanistan.
"The Canadian public does deserve to be fully informed and that's why we're committed to this debate in the House," he said.
"That's why were continuing our effort throughout the summer and into the fall to give Canadians a clear understanding of the need for Canada to be there, the work we're doing, the importance of that and how it benefits Canada as well."
However, MacKay's comments come after a report from the Senlis Council, an international policy think tank that visited Afghanistan this month, revealed little good news about the effectiveness of Canadian aid efforts.
Here are some of the Senlis Council's findings:
- Little evidence that Canadian money was being going to the Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar, as CIDA claimed;
- There was no trace of the Maternal Waiting Home project, listed by CIDA as one of the agency's projects;
- A ward for starving children "not only still exists but is horribly over-crowded," according to the report.
Other Afghanistan news
A Canadian soldier's remains returned to Canada from Afghanistan, but no further details about the circumstances of his death have been made public yet.
The Canadian Forces aircraft bearing Maj. Raymond Ruckpaul's remains touched down at CFB Trenton in eastern Ontario on Sunday afternoon.
He had been found in his barracks in Kabul on Wednesday suffering from a gunshot wound. He died an hour after being discovered.
The International Security Assistance Force has already ruled out enemy action in the secure compound or forced entry into Ruckpaul's room.
Family members have reported the military hasn't provided any further information yet.
MacKay and Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier attended the repatriation ceremony, but didn't comment on Ruckpaul's death.
An autopsy will be performed Monday on the 42-year-old native of Hamilton. Ruckpaul was the 70th Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan since 2002.
In southern Afghanistan, U.S.-led coalition troops raided a Taliban command center on Sunday.
Coalition officials said 25 suspected militants had been killed during a targeted attack on two compounds southwest of Kandahar City. No coalition troops or Afghan soldiers were injured.
"Local residents had been seen leaving the area for the last few weeks and intelligence has suggested that insurgent commanders were attempting to re-establish their control in the area,'' the coalition said.
According to The Associated Press, more than 4,200 people -- most of them insurgents -- have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year.
With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
