US grappling with Canada's exit from Afghanistan

[February 11, 2009]  OTTAWA (AP) -- Two weeks before Christmas, Canadian Master Cpl. Mike Trauner lay near death after a mortar exploded while he was on patrol in Afghanistan. He lost one leg below the knee, the other just above the knee, and his hand remains swollen with embedded shrapnel.

Trauner said he would like to be deployed again, yet it's doubtful that the 29-year-old from Sudbury, Ontario, will return to Afghanistan -- and not because of his injuries. The Canadian government plans to withdraw its combat troops by 2011, feeling the loss of more than 100 troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001. About 2,500 serve there now.

The looming absence of one of its closest allies has left the United States grappling with how to eliminate terror threats and government corruption in Afghanistan with its own troops already stretched thin from years in Iraq.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, the top U.S. military officer, paid homage to Canada's fallen and praised the nation's Afghanistan mission during a daylong visit to Ottawa on Tuesday.

Mullen called Canadian combat forces in Afghanistan "absolutely critical" but said the issue of their withdrawal did not come up during his meetings.

"The Canadian force is a great armed force and a great combat force," Mullen told reporters at an Ottawa news conference with Canada's chief of defense staff, Gen. Walt Natynczyk. "And they've made a huge difference. In the fights that we're in, having partners like this is absolutely vital."

"But it is for the government of Canada to make that decision -- not for me or anybody in my country," Mullen said.

Canada is not the only country leaving. The Netherlands also will withdraw troops over the next two years. Last month, NATO commander Gen. John Craddock predicted the global financial crisis would force other nations to scale back in the costly war against al-Qaida and efforts to stabilize Afghanistan's government.

The United States is lobbying allies to stay and fight, even as it plans to deal with the gaps created by those who leave. At a global security conference last weekend in Germany, Craddock said allies are making progress in efforts to fill the need for more troops, equipment and intelligence gathering in Afghanistan.

However, he would not disclose any specific commitments from world leaders that he was able to secure.

In remarks both in Ottawa and later Tuesday en route to Washington, Mullen seemed to keep open a possibility that Canada could change its mind about withdrawing its troops.

"2011 is a couple of years off," he told reporters aboard his military plane. "There's a lot that can happen. If in fact that's actually what gets executed, we're all going to have to adjust to that. They are a staunch ally, they've done exceptionally well in terms of providing the type of capability we need.

"And if that decision goes through, we're going to miss them," Mullen said.

Back in Ottawa, Natynczyk all but shut the door.

"The government of Canada has given me pretty clear guidance that our military mission will end in 2011," he said. "The focus is on the next few years in ensuring we can move the yardsticks and get progress."

Trauner, the wounded Canadian veteran, said it's not his place as a soldier to question the policy decisions of his superiors.

"I'm generally in support of whatever my country agrees is right," he said in an interview after meeting in Ottawa with Mullen and Natynczyk.

Still, "soldiers do and react because somebody has to," Trauner said. "If we didn't do the job, then who would? I think we do it because we don't want our own families and other peoples' families to be at risk to threats."

[Associated Press; By LARA JAKES]

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