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Topic: Manley Report. (Read 2882 times)
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Mike Blais
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Interesting report, I must say. Perhaps having such condition stated for the record will motivate the rest of NATO to get off their hands and join the fray. More to follow...
Manley wants mission extension with conditions
Updated Tue. Jan. 22 2008 9:54 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
The Manley panel has recommended extending Canada's military mission in Afghanistan indefinitely, with a new emphasis on diplomacy, training and reconstruction.
The 90-page report released Tuesday doesn't put any time limit on ending the Canadian mission.
* Independent Panel on Canada's Future Role in Afghanistan (.pdf)
"The Canadian combat mission should conclude when the Afghan National Army is ready to provide security in Kandahar province," it said.
However, that commitment should come with some commitments from Canada's NATO partners:
* Deploy a new 1,000-soldier battle group in Kandahar province, allowing Canada to focus on training the Afghan National Army
* Obtain new medium-lift helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles by February 2009.
The current mission is slated to end by that date.
The five-member panel, chaired by former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley, was appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in October to consider at least four possible options for Canada's involvement in Afghanistan. A Parliamentary vote on the mission's future is expected sometime this spring.
"The Panel is convinced that Canadian objectives in Afghanistan are both honourable and achievable," it said.
The main objective should be contributing, "with others, to a better governed, stable and developing Afghanistan whose government can protect the security of the country and its people," it said.
Premature withdrawal before that objective is achieved would cause more harm than good to Canada, the panel warned.
Among its other recommendations:
* Canada should step up its international diplomatic efforts. With a key NATO meeting coming up in April, the panel recommended that Parliament defer any vote until after that meeting;
* Canada's aid and development efforts should focus more on efforts that will aid the Afghan people directly, with some "signature" projects that show Canada's contribution;
* More effort must be put into measuring the effectiveness of Canada's military and civilian efforts in Afghanistan;
* Better communication with Canadians on how the mission is going ; and
* Canada must make "forceful representations" with Afghanistan's neighbours, especially Pakistan, about the need to cultivate security and stability in Afghanistan.
"Helping to build a more stable, better governed Afghanistan with a growing economy is, we believe, an achievable Canadian objective. But success is not a certainty. The war in Afghanistan is complicated. The future there is dangerous and can frustrate the most confident plan or prediction," it said.
"After our three months of study, however, it is our conviction that the recommendations in our report -- with their attached conditions -- together carry a reasonable probability of success. In the circumstances now prevailing, that is the strongest assurance that can be credibly given."
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Quite so, Shawn. I would say the ball is now in NATO's court, time to put up or admit the alliance is as useless as many here believe it to be.
Report hits close to home
For Petawawa, outcome of Afghan debate more than just words
By SEAN CHASE, SUN MEDIA
Click here to find out more!
CFB PETAWAWA -- Petawawa's next rotation of troops to Afghanistan after 2009 will depend on how the Manley panel's recommendations are received by Parliament.
The 90-page report released yesterday favours extending Canada's military assignment in Afghanistan indefinitely, with a renewed emphasis on training, reconstruction and diplomacy.
Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant expects the panel's findings will encourage healthy debate among Canadians, who polls show are divided in support for the mission.
The Conservative caucus will be meeting later this week to review the recommendations. Gallant knows the subsequent debate will determine how many area soldiers could be deploying to Afghanistan over the next few years.
"Depending on how the debate goes, certainly one way or another there will be an impact," she said. "In Petawawa, we do one out of every three rotations."
Last fall, Prime Minister Stephen Harper assigned former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley to head a blue ribbon panel to consider four options for Canada's involvement in Afghanistan as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
More than 2,000 soldiers from Base Petawawa, including the 1,000-man Third Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group, are scheduled to deploy overseas later this year. They will leave Kandahar in February, 2009, the current end date for the Canadian mission.
The panel concluded Canada's combat role should end when the Afghan National Army is prepared to provide security throughout Kandahar province. Extending the mission would be dependent on NATO sending in a fresh 1,000-man battle group and medium-lift helicopters.
NATO HAS ROLE TO PLAY
Petawawa Mayor Bob Sweet knows the report could mean more deployments for the soldiers of 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group and the base's other lodger units. He echoed the sentiment that NATO must relieve the Canadian, U.S., British and Dutch forces struggling to fight the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
"The Canadian soldier has been on the sharp end of this," said Sweet. "They've been doing the heavy lifting on the front lines in a difficult and dangerous part of the world."
He also expressed concern more deployments will have an adverse effect on the town's economy. "Businesses suffer, there's no question about it. We feel the pain when they go overseas," he said.
Afghanistan has also been costly in lives. Since the base began deploying there in 2003, Petawawa has lost 22 soldiers.
The next major deployment from Petawawa comes in May when the 272 personnel from the Joint Task Force Headquarters leave for Kandahar. Then, the 2,000 plus Task Force 3-08, including the 3RCR battle group, the Provincial Reconstruction Team, the National Support Element and the Operational Mentor and Liaison Teams, head out this summer.
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Well, this is progress, and of course will help, a lot i think , in hanging on to areas that our people have secured.. but again , how far can you stretch 1000 soldiers.. about half as far as our people ...so the ball is still in Natos side of the court, and there needs to be a whole lot more combat boots on the ground... if they are going to run the bad guys to ground , for good...and the cause, just? well, of course it is... the cause is twofold.. to help the good folks of the country get their country back and to be able to live like decent contributing citezens.. that begins with education, and by that i mean , afterthe basic necessities of life....and must include all the kids , boys and girls.. and i think too, some kind of adult " upgrading " as time goes on.. but those folks are showing they understand and want the same life as the rest of us; the second being of course, stopping terrorism at the grass roots , in their own back yard...to that end our people cannot be thanked enough for the absolutly tremendous work they have done and are doing...as was shown , the real proof is found when you listen to the citizens of the country , who are very grateful for what has been done for them, and very sad at the loss of our and Nato people who are trying to help them...the proof is there, in their hearts and minds....i hope our people feel this in their hearts as thatis the thanks they will feel the closest....ranrad
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Mike Blais
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'Should not be difficult' for NATO to muster troops: Manley
Europeans showed same hesitance to engage in Bosnia, former foreign minister tells Post
James Cowan, National Post Published: Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Nathan Denette /National Post
Convincing NATO countries to deploy an additional 1,000 troops to southern Afghanistan to support Canadian soldiers "should not be that difficult," according to the members of an independent panel led by John Manley.
Mr. Manley, a former Liberal cabinet minister, this week delivered a report to the Prime Minister on the Afghan deployment. The report calls on Canada to extend its commitment to the NATO-led mission beyond its current end in 2009, provided other countries bolster their involvement.
In a meeting Wednesday with the National Post editorial board, Mr. Manley suggested it should be relatively easy to muster the additional troops.
"It should be achievable, it should not be that difficult," he said.
While other NATO countries have so far been reluctant to deploy troops to the dangerous area surrounding Kandahar, Mr. Manley said he believes attitudes towards the mission will evenutally shift in European countries.
"I've seen this movie before, when I was foreign minister and going to NATO meetings and the debate was about Bosnia," Mr. Manley said. "The Europeans weren't there and Canada had 1,800 troops there ... and [the Europeans] said they can't do it. Well, they did. Eventually, it became significant enough for NATO and European prestige that they did come to the table."
The panel's report is designed to make clear to NATO allies the difficulties that Canada is facing, Mr. Manley said.
"The consequences of failure for NATO are pretty darn serious and we felt we had a duty to speak truth to power," Mr. Manley said.
Derek Burney, another panel member and former Canadian ambassador, said both the United States and France are likely candidates to provide additional troops. He noted the U.S. last week committed to sending 2,200 marines to southern Afghanistan for seven months.
If just half of those troops were stationed in Kandahar permanently, it would fulfill the panel's proposal, Mr. Burney noted.
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Harper gives early approval of Manley report
Mike Blanchfield
Canwest News Service
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper has given his preliminary approval to the hard-hitting report on Afghanistan by former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley, Canwest News Service has learned.
But Harper still wants to consult with his cabinet and caucus before giving a more detailed public response, a source close to the prime minister said Wednesday.
Harper views the findings of the five-member independent panel headed by Manley as "a good and positive report" despite the fact it was critical of the Conservative government's handling of the Afghanistan file.
"We are under no illusions that the mission is not without its problems," the source told Canwest.
Harper is grateful to Manley and his panel for their work, the source added.
Harper will discuss the report's recommendations at a cabinet meeting later this week.
The prime minister is not expected to spend much time talking about Afghanistan at a speech scheduled for Friday in Ottawa.
"It's really going to set the direction and tone for the government for the second session," the source said of the speech, stressing that the prime minister is "not looking to drag out a response."
With the House of Commons due to reconvene Monday, Harper's speech on Friday had been planned before Manley bumped up the release of his report on Tuesday.
Harper's speech, in addition to laying out priorities for the next parliamentary session, was also intended to mark Wednesday's second anniversary of the Conservatives' federal election win.
The Manley report criticized the Harper government for not adequately explaining the importance of the military mission in Afghanistan directly to Canadians.
Manley urged Harper to "step up" and personally take the lead in a new diplomatic offensive to push NATO allies to provide at least 1,000 additional troops for southern Afghanistan so that Canadian troops there could focus more on training the Afghan army.
The report also suggested that Harper might want to delay his promised vote in the Commons until after the NATO leaders summit in Bucharest in early April.
Manley and his fellow panellists wanted to strengthen Harper's negotiating position going into the NATO summit. With the Liberals, Bloc Quebecois and NDP all calling for Canada to end combat operations by February 2009, it would appear likely that the Conservatives would lose a vote in the Commons on extending the mission.
The source said Harper has not yet decided whether to adopt the recommendation to delay the vote, and added that the prime minister wants to discuss the report with his full caucus, likely on Saturday.
Stanley Kober, a foreign policy scholar with Washington' Cato Institute, said NATO's divisions now run so deep that the fractures may be irreparable.
As a Cold War creation, the organization showed great solidarity in the face of threat posed by the Soviet Union, he said. But it has floundered badly in the post-Cold War era, especially in Afghanistan.
"The glue that holds it together - you don't have the same sort of feeling that you had back in the Cold War days," Kober said Wednesday.
Manley's proposal for the alliance to come up with 1,000 additional troops may prove too challenging for NATO planners, he said.
"I just don't see where they're going to come from, I don't see the support. As a consequence, I think we are really in difficulty."
Ottawa Citizen
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PM's gag order erodes support, Manley says
MICHAEL VALPY
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
January 24, 2008 at 5:05 AM EST
The government's decision to gag Foreign Affairs and other departments from speaking to the media has left Canadians with a flawed understanding of what the Afghan mission is about, members of the panel reviewing Canada's role in Afghanistan charged yesterday.
The panel members called the policy unhelpful and said it was undermining public support for the mission and presenting a skewed picture of why Canadian troops are being asked to put their lives on the line in Afghanistan.
Chairman John Manley, a former foreign affairs minister, said the decision taken at the "centre" - in the Prime Minister's Office or the Privy Council Office - to allow only the Defence Department to speak on the mission means Canadians are being told their young men and women are dying without being given "any context in which they can say this is why and this is meaningful and this is tragic but it's worth it."
"In Kosovo [where Canada was part of a NATO intervention in 1999], media had regular and frequent briefings on the record from officials in Foreign Affairs and Defence," Mr. Manley said at a meeting with The Globe and Mail's editorial board.
The Globe and Mail
"What we're finding in this conflict is that virtually all your information is coming from Defence. Neither Foreign Affairs nor CIDA [Canadian International Development Agency] nor other government departments that are involved are able to give on the record briefings."
Journalists have been aware of the silence that has shrouded Foreign Affairs since Stephen Harper's government took office in February, 2006, but this is the first time an official body has reported on it. The Afghanistan panel was established by Mr. Harper in late 2007.
The muzzling of Foreign Affairs and other departments has led to Canadians being confused about the mission, said panel member Derek Burney, a former ambassador to Washington.
"They support the troops almost by instinct ... [but] they hear different stories about what [the mission] is there for, what it's doing. Lots of Canadians are saying 'Please, just tell us what it is we're doing, why we're there.' "
Mr. Burney, whose reputation for bluntness has accompanied him throughout his diplomatic career, talked about too many people in official Ottawa trying to pull the wool over the public's eyes by presenting the Afghan mission from their own points of view.
"If it's a political thing in Parliament it goes one way," he said. "If it's a military thing it goes another way. All we're saying is that it's bigger than the military. There's a lot more involved than the military."
It was his "fervent wish," he said, that some of Canada's ambassadors would have more flexibility in being able to speak.
"It was certainly the case in my day that ambassadors were allowed to speak to the media ... and I would like to see our distinguished ambassadors - the one to NATO, the one in Kabul, the one in Washington, the one in London, I could go on - having greater latitude to express the government's total position in a place like Afghanistan.
"There are problems with governance. There are problems with development. There's a lack of international co-ordination which is abysmal, from the UN, from NATO.
"These are real problems that need to be addressed, and we think as a panel that Canada has a right and a credible voice to exercise in addressing those kinds of problems in a way that we don't have in a lot of issues that we like to dabble in around the world without any interest or contribution."
Mr. Manley, Mr. Burney and Pamela Wallin, a broadcaster and former consul-general in New York, cited the salacious story of the Corrections Canada officials' boots as an example of what can go awry when Foreign Affairs is muzzled.
According to government documents released in November, Corrections Canada officials inspecting Afghan jails asked for special boots because they were walking through blood and fecal material - the implication being that detainees handed over by the Canadian military to Afghan jailers were treated in a horrid manner.
What the Afghan panel members learned in private meetings with Foreign Affairs officials - and which the officials were barred from explaining to journalists - was that the blood and fecal material could be explained by a combination of inadvertent food poisoning and a blocked sewage system.
"I'm not opposed to a more controlled message," said Mr. Burney, "but it's got to be a more complete message. And it's not going to be complete if one department has the latitude to speak openly but others don't. It's as simple as that."
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Ron [Andy] Andrews
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Well, i hope they get this together and get the real truth out there on a timely basis, so the public does understand what their troops are doing.. and yes, for sure, lets get more of the good news stories out to the public.. from what i can see, there are so many that the public does not ever hear...i will say it again , our people are doing a job that most would consider impossible, and not only getting it done , but done extremely well...get that out to our people...ranrad
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Marines to back up Canadians in Kandahar Plan in the works for months, senior NATO officer says Matthew Fisher, The Ottawa Citizen Published: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=00aa76cc-be00-43ea-8d9d-de0e1740e575The Manley panel on the future of Canada's role in Afghanistan has recommended that Canadian troops fighting in Kandahar must be augmented by another NATO battle group of 1,000 combat soldiers by next year and, if not, that Canada should go home. A demand for more NATO forces in Kandahar by 2009 is likely to be met, but not from Europe, where Canada has been highly critical of allies such as Germany, Italy and Spain operating in western and northern Afghanistan. Sources at NATO headquarters in Belgium and in the United States have indicated in recent days that two marine battalions being sent to southern Afghanistan for seven months this spring with specific orders to assist the Canadians are likely to be followed by even more marine battalions in 2009 and 2010. This was possible because the Pentagon has begun to slowly wind down combat operations in Iraq and because the marine leadership has been pressing hard for a bigger role in Afghanistan. "It is starting to come together," a senior officer at NATO headquarters in Belgium said yesterday of the assistance that the marines were expected to provide to the Canadians in Kandahar. The officer, who did not wish to be identified because he was not authorized to speak about the issue, said U.S. help for the Canadians had been in the works for several months. Britain is also likely to send more combat troops to the south now that it is reducing its presence in Iraq. But, it is almost certain that those extra troops will augment the 4,700 British soldiers already fighting the Taliban in Helmand prov-ince. More at the link. This is good news that the USMC is sending a full Battalion to Kandahar to join our boys, with another Battalion elsewhere(?), and possibly more on the way. I hope they bring some Marine Air with them. |
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Mike Blais
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I seen on the telly a couple of days ago the Marines have been assigned other duties ergo the reason the deployment has been planned for months. Not that it is important in the sense of boots on the ground but it should be noted, in light of this thread, that it is not in response to the Manley report. Anyhow, 1200 will be replacing a unit already on the ground. That unit is going home. One thousand will be assigned to training the Afghans and rest, I hope, will be active beyond the wire, not a component of the bade defense force.
Of course, situation dictates...
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Mike Blais
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U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that 3,200 marines headed to southern Afghanistan will not provide the Canadian Forces there with the additional troop support recommended by the Manley report.
The marines, slated to stay for seven months following their spring departure, will be on a one-time assignment, Gates said during a Pentagon press briefing.
U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates says NATO, not the U.S., must provide Canada with the troop support it needs in order to continue its mission in Afghanistan beyond 2009.U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates says NATO, not the U.S., must provide Canada with the troop support it needs in order to continue its mission in Afghanistan beyond 2009.
(Kevin Wolf/Associated Press)
He said he will be putting pressure on NATO to provide more troops to bolster coalition war efforts in Afghanistan's turbulent south.
"No, it's a one time plus-up, this 3,200 marines that we're sending over there, but I have started a dialogue with my NATO colleagues about falling in behind the marines when the marines come out, for others to go in and take on some of the responsibilities that they will have carried out," Gates said.
An independent panel led by former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley this week recommended Canadian troops remain in Afghanistan past their scheduled pullout in February 2009, but only if they are backed up by an additional 1,000 troops and extra equipment.
When asked if he thought it was achievable to get extra soldiers into Afghanistan by the Canadian deadline, Gates replied: "I certainly hope so."
Continue Article
Gates said he hoped that NATO meetings in Lithuania last year, as well as the upcoming summit in Romania in April, would inspire NATO towards a "more positive reaction and provide the kind of additional support that the Canadians, based on what you just said, that the [Manley] report has called for."
The U.S. has the largest number of troops in NATO's Afghan mission, making up about one-third of the 42,000-strong force. About 13,000 other U.S. troops are training Afghan forces and searching for al-Qaeda members.
After months of insisting it would not send additional soldiers to the region, the U.S. announced earlier in January that it was preparing to send 3,000 marines to Afghanistan in April to help battle a resilient Taliban insurgency over the spring and summer "fighting season."
The deployment will bring the total number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to about 30,000 — the highest since the American-led invasion began in 2001.
78 Canadian soldiers killed
All of NATO's 26 member nations have soldiers in Afghanistan, however, many have refused to send additional forces.
European nations in particular — many with commitments in Africa and the Middle East — have drawn criticism from countries such as Canada, Britain and the U.S., which complain of being overburdened by their missions in violence-plagued areas in southern and eastern Afghanistan.
About 2,500 Canadian soldiers are in the southern Kandahar region. Since the mission started in 2002, 78 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed.
The Manley report identified a lack of military forces as the biggest problem facing the mission, which is supposed to be bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan.
An extra 1,000 soldiers would expand security coverage in Kandahar, help prevent incursions from Pakistan, and accelerate training of Afghan army and police units.
Without additional troop support, the report said, the Canadian government should be prepared to give NATO and Afghan authorities notice of the country's intention to withdraw from Kandahar, which, the report admits would likely destabilize the already fragile security situation there.
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Harper accepts main Manley recommendations
Meagan Fitzpatrick, Canwest News Service
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his government accepts the main recommendations in the Manley report, including the demand that NATO provide more assistance in the Afghan south as a pre-condition for extending Canada’s mission there.
“I have spoken with Mr. Manley and advised him that our government broadly accepts the recommendations put forward by the panel on Canada’s future in Afghanistan,” Harper said at a news conference in Ottawa.
The prime minister said he also agrees with the specific conditions set out by the five-member independent panel that should be met in order to extend the mission beyond February 2009.
The report, produced by a panel headed by former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley, said Canada should only extend its mission if it can convince its allies to commit at least 1,000 more troops and if the Canadian military receives helicopters and surveillance drones.
“In other words, while the case for the Afghan mission is clearly compelling, the decision to allow our young men and women in uniform to continue to be in harm’s way demands the responsibility to give them a strong chance of success,” Harper said.
“Both of the recommendations will have to be fulfilled or Canada will not proceed with the mission in Afghanistan.”
The prime minister said the military equipment has been on order for some time, but that securing it and getting it in the field has been delayed because it is some of the most sought after equipment “on the planet.”
Harper said that over the last two years his government has begun introducing other measures along the lines of what was suggested in the report.
Until Monday, Harper had said little about what he thinks about the report. He briefly referred to it on Friday during a speech to Tory supporters in Ottawa, calling it “strong, balanced and realistic,” but had not yet said what he thought about its recommendations.
Harper said the government will introduce a motion in the House of Commons this spring “seeking support for Canada’s way forward.”
He spoke to Liberal Leader Stephane Dion on Sunday about having a debate on the motion, Harper said, and he plans to speak further with Dion later this week.
Harper said his government has reached a “tentative”_decision about whether to hold a vote in the House of Commons before he attends a major NATO meeting in Bucharest in April, or after, but that he wants to discuss that with Dion first. The Bloc Quebecois and NDP both want Canada out of Afghanistan so the Conservatives have to work with the Liberals in order to get the mission extended.
He said in the coming weeks his government will more fully respond and react to the other recommendations in the report.
The report was critical of the government’s management of the mission and urged Harper to personally take on a more active diplomatic role. It also said the government needs to improve its communications strategy so that Canadians are better informed about the war in Afghanistan.
Harper said he accepts the criticisms in the report and takes them seriously.
“This is an extremely difficult mission, we don’t believe it’s perfect, we never have,” he said, adding that no other issue has caused him more headaches and heartaches than the war in Afghanistan.
“We accept the judgment that there are several things that could be done better,” he said.
Harper said he will personally be speaking with the leaders of other NATO allies and will share the recommendations of the Manley report with NATO when he attends the April summit.
Harper said the alliance’s efforts in southern Afghanistan, where the Canadian troops are stationed, have not been adequate. The alliance’s reputation and future credibility hinges on success in Afghanistan, Harper said, and he added that he is “optimistic” that NATO will come through on delivering the help Canada is seeking.
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
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Mike Blais
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