OTTAWA, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The Canadian military has been ordered to
start making plans for withdrawing from its combat role in the NATO
mission in Afghanistan, officials said.
The Defense Department confirmed Thursday night that Chief of the
Defense Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk issued instructions to officers to
begin logistical planning to get the country's 2,800 troops and all of
their equipment out of Afghanistan by 2011, the Canwest News Service
reported.
In September, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told U.S. leaders in
Washington the mission had to have a defined end-date.
"In 2011, we will have been in Afghanistan almost as long as we were
in the two world wars combined," Harper said.
Last month, Defense Minister Peter MacKay told a parliamentary
committee some Canadian troops might remain in Afghanistan after 2011
in a non-combat role in reconstruction assignments, the report said.
Since 2002, 133 Canadian soldiers have been killed in the conflict.
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