Canada should rethink its role in Afghanistan within a year unless NATO countries step in to shoulder more of the burden, says a Senate report.

Taking a Hard Look at a Hard Mission, a 15-page report, paints a bleak picture of the situation faced by the more than 2,000 Canadian soldiers serving in the volatile Kandahar region.

Liberal Senator Colin Kenny, speaking after the release of a special Senate report, says NATO countries should send more troops to support Canadian soldiers in Kandahar.
(Tom Hanson/Canadian Press)

Canadian, American, British and Dutch troops are tasked with most of the fighting in the southern Taliban heartland and deserve greater NATO support, the report said.

"We're doing the heavy lifting and now it's time to share it," said Conservative Senator Michael Meighen, a member of the bipartisan Senate Defence committee that wrote the report.

Unless NATO countries send more troops and support to the region within 12 months, Ottawa should re-examine its long-term commitment to the mission, said the report.

"We expect our allies to step up. They must know that if they don't step up, we're going to take another look at the situation," said Liberal Senator Colin Kenny. "It's an alliance. We're expected to be shoulder to shoulder."

Meighen said a troop pullout would be an extreme reaction, but noted Canada could "discharge our obligations" in other ways such as by reducing training or its work in battling the drug trade.

"We could scale those back if we're not getting help from our allies," he said.

A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said the government was examining the report's recommendations, which identify challenges the government already recognizes.

But International Co-operation Minister Josée Verner said she's satisfied with the approach in Afghanistan.

"We are confident that we are making progress and the Afghan people can have the concrete results," she said. "We will continue to work that way."

Send military, police trainers

Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan face a number of problems, warns the report. They include:

• An Afghan "warrior culture," nourished by decades of conflict.
• Perception among Afghans as foreign invaders.
• The Taliban's intimate knowledge of the country's terrain.

Another key problem is the slow pace of progress in Afghanistan, hindered by low literacy levels, a rampant drug trade and a government rife with corruption, says the report.

"Afghanistan is only remotely connected to the modern world," it warns. "Anyone expecting to see the emergence in Afghanistan within the next several decades of a recognizable modern democracy capable of delivering justice and amenities to its people is dreaming in Technicolor."

Canada's military must increase its presence on the development front in order to gain support among ordinary Afghans, said the report, which recommends Ottawa spend an extra $20 million in development aid to the military until aid organizations can safely function.

"Only when our military is seen to be there to assist rather than conquer, is there any hope that we can start being seen as a positive alternative to the Taliban."

Canada should send 250 military trainers and 60 police officers to Kandahar to help boost the country's fledgling army and police force, which, along with the Afghan government, is rife with corruption, the report says.

Dion agrees with report

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said he agreed with several parts of the report.

"We need to help the government of Afghanistan fight corruption and be much more functional than it is now," he said. "It is the condition for success."

NDP Leader Jack Layton worries the prime minister won't act on the recommendations outlined in the report.

"He has his mind set," he said. "He tries to discount anybody who raises any question or criticism. I think it is unfortunate."

Kenny, when asked whether the government has painted too "rosy" a view of the mission,said that the report reflected what the committee saw during two visits to Afghanistan.

"I'm telling you that's how we see it. If the government isn't laying it out like this, then they should," he said. "It's going to be an uphill fight for a long time."

With files from the Canadian Press