Canada Parliament Leaves Troops Vulnerable In Afghanistan

A Canadian general has admitted that while the Canadian parliament is contemplating whether Canada should extend troop deployments in Afghanistan, the Taliban are targeting his Canadian troops in hopes of swaying the Canadian legislators. This is the old al Qaeda-bombs-Spain tactic. The Taliban know that if they can inflict some dramatic damage to Canadian troops, more and more of the surrenderists in Canada's parliament will back down.
Here is what Gen. Rick Hillier said:

"We are, in the eyes of the Taliban, in a window of extreme vulnerability. The longer we go without that clarity, with the issue in doubt, the more the Taliban will target us as a perceived weak link," Hillier said in a speech. "Certainly there's a perception out there that the Taliban will try to take advantage of the debate back here and will try to prevent a cohesive mission,"

So, one has to wonder...will the Canadian parliament cave to the pressure or will they stand fast? Germany just came out and said they would add 400 more troops to the Afghanistan War in response to Canada's NATO challenge a month ago - will Canada's parliament embarass Harper by waving the white flag?

Here's the full story.

Taliban sees Canada vulnerable for now: general

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Taliban may have mounted suicide attacks on Canadian troops this week expressly to dissuade Parliament from extending the Canadian mission in Afghanistan, Canada's outspoken top soldier said on Friday.

Chief of the defense staff Gen. Rick Hillier also said it was important for the Canadian Forces to be given a clear mandate for its future role in Afghanistan as soon as possible.
He said he could not exclude the idea that Taliban strikes this past week were designed to frighten Canada out of prolonging its 2,500-strong mission beyond the current expiry date of February 2009.

All three opposition parties had opposed an extension of a combat mission in the violent southern part of the country, but the minority Conservative government has now reached a deal with the main opposition Liberal Party to set a fixed end date of July 2011.
However, Parliament will not vote on that compromise until next month. It is theoretically possible that the government could fall in the meantime over the federal budget it will introduce on February 26.
With little Liberal appetite for triggering an election, that scenario looks increasingly unlikely but if the government were to fall, this would prevent parliamentary approval of the Afghan extension and it would then become an election issue.
Liberal leader Stephane Dion made clear on Friday that he did not want to topple the government over whatever small differences he might have with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the Afghan motion.
"I would prefer not to have Afghanistan as a trigger for an election," he told reporters in Winnipeg, Manitoba.