From: "Rich Gauszka" 



http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_
Type1&c=Article&cid=1165359015189&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467

Canada is on the way out of Afghanistan - or at least out of the battle
zones in that country's south.

This is not official. It has certainly not been announced. But both the
governing Conservatives and now the St‚phane Dion Liberals are signalling
that this is where they intend to go.

The Liberals, originally the architects of Canadian involvement in
Afghanistan, have become, under their new leader, some of its harshest
critics.

"(Trying to) kill the Taliban in every corner of the mountains doesn't
work," Dion said on Monday. "So we will try to propose to the
government an approach that makes sense."

He has said in published interviews that he is not committed to the current
government's decision to keep Canadian troops in Kandahar until 2009 and
that, if he became prime minister, he would look for a way to withdraw
"with honour" from at least the hot zones in Afghanistan's south.

"Canada must say (to its NATO allies and the Afghan government):
`Look, we are very willing to work with you, to design something that makes
sense,'" he told the CanWest News Service two weeks ago.

"Because I don't want to risk the lives of our soldiers if we are not
making progress."

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