WASHINGTON - There are no plans to extend Canada's mission in Afghanistan despite a suggestion from America's top military official that Canadian troops should stay longer, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Friday.
"Our combat mission in Afghanistan will end in 2011 as was previously indicated and there is no change in that position," Cannon said after meeting with Condoleezza Rice, outgoing U.S. secretary of state.
He was reiterating the Conservative government's rejection of calls for the Canadians to stay from U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates during his visit to Afghanistan earlier this week.
Gates, who will continue in his post under the Barack Obama administration, suggested that an extended Canadian commitment in the dangerous area around Kandahar would be particularly welcome.
Rice did not make a similar suggestion in their discussion Friday, said Cannon, who was on his first visit to Washington as foreign affairs minister.
"That issue did not come up," he told a news conference at the Canadian Embassy. "Our position has been known now for some time ... we do not intend to change that position."
During a quick visit to Afghanistan on Thursday, Gates praised Canada but suggested pulling out in 2011 -- the first time Canadian troops would leave a conflict area before a war has been won -- was an ill-conceived idea.
"They have been outstanding partners for us, and all I can tell you is ... the longer we can have Canadian soldiers as our partners, the better it is," he said.
American and NATO troops are simply holding their own in Afghanistan, he said, and that wasn't good enough.
In response to Gates's comments, Defence Minister Peter McKay was quick to say that extending Canada's mission past 2011 was simply not in the cards. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has also made it clear that there will be no extension.
In Washington, Cannon said his meeting with Rice focused not on Afghanistan, but mostly on bilateral trade issues and the global economic meltdown, including the crisis facing the Big Three automakers following the rejection by Congress of a $14-billion bailout package for the ailing industry.
Ambassador Michael Wilson, citing the interdependence of the auto industry in Canada and the United States, told the news conference that embassy officials were in constant touch with people heavily involved in the bailout negotiations.
"We have been in touch with people in the administration, in Congress -- we have stated very clearly that the level of integration between the two industries is something that is highly important to us and we've encouraged anybody involved with the negotiations to keep that very much in mind as they try to reach a conclusion to this," he said.
"We're in touch on a very current basis with a number of people directly involved."
