But what’s the government’s position?  The Minister of National Defence appears to have opened the door a fair way; now if only the Liberals are serious and come through it.  I am of course assuming the MND spoke with the prime minister’s authorization; apparently Mr MacKay spoke without it once before, see last para of first quote:

Canada could stay in Afghanistan: MacKay

Defence Minister Peter MacKay strongly suggested today that the Harper government is open to extending the Canadian military mission in Afghanistan beyond July, 2011, if agreement can be reached with the opposition.

“I know that Ignatieff and Rae have made comments recently about training, and extending the mission,” MacKay said while on a tour of CFB Meaford. “That’s all very interesting.”

The minister repeatedly stressed, however, that the current Parliamentary motion governing the mission in Afghanistan requires that it end in July of next year, with all forces withdrawn by December of 2011.

“There’s not a lot of flex as to what we can do, within the context of the parliamentary motion…. We’ll respect the letter of the motion.”

The motion, passed by the House of Commons in March of 2008, calls for a complete pullout by December of 2011 [only from Kandahar, see below] and leaves no room for further extensions.

However, in the past year there has been growing pressure from Canada’s allies, including the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, for an extension in some capacity. The Afghan government is also pressing Canada to remain [more here].

Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae returned from an Afghan visit earlier this summer and pointedly remarked that the Liberals would be open to an extension limited to training Afghan security forces [more from Adrian here].

Proponents of this option suggest such a move could be designed to limit Canadian troops to operating “inside the wire,” that is within the confines of fortified bases, which greatly reduces the risk of attack [see 2) here]…

In terms of any extension as a pure training mission, he said, “we’re examining all the options.”

In the past, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper or senior Canadian military officeres have been queried about an extension, they have flatly ruled it out [so has foreign minister Cannon--in late June MND MacKay was rather winging it: "Peter might be open to the idea [a non-combat training role], but this doesn’t mean that the Prime Minister and the Government of Canada is open to the idea.“]. Polls have consistently shown Canadians evenly divided on the Afghan mission [and we all know a responsible government decides key forign policy, national security and defence issues by poll]…

Milnews.ca:

…
I bet my loonie on government not changing its mind.

The truth of the 2008 Commons’ motion. The government, sadly, still continues to be so economical about the truth of it as to be mendacious. The motion does not require that the CF leave Afstan; it only refers to ending the Kandahar mission:

…this extension of Canada’s military presence in Afghanistan is approved by this House expressly on the condition that:
…

(c) the government of Canada notify NATO that Canada will end its presence in Kandahar as of July 2011, and, as of that date, the redeployment of Canadian Forces troops out of Kandahar and their replacement by Afghan forces start as soon as possible, so that it will have been completed by December 2011…

Update: Further flash, an e-mail just in from one of Taliban Jack’s boys, Brad Lavigne (I’m on his address list for some reason, maybe his people think bloggers are, er, cool):

My Fellow New Democrat,

For two years, Stephen Harper has repeatedly promised Canadians that the combat mission in Afghanistan would end in 2011.

Canadians were counting on it. They thought they could take Stephen Harper at his word. They were wrong.

Today we learned that Stephen Harper wants a backroom deal with Ignatieff’s Liberals to keep Canadian soldiers in the military mission past 2011.

The majority of Canadians have spoken. Parliament has spoken. We want the combat mission to end in 2011. Now I want you to help me get the word out about this backroom deal.

Click here to spread the word on Facebook.

Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff – do the right thing. Keep your promise to Canadians on Afghanistan.

Brad Lavigne,
National Director
Canada’s New Democrats

Mark
Ottawa