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Canada in Afghanistan: Should Canada allow combat forces to remain in Afghanistan past 2011?

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Canada's Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon (R) greets U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the G8 foreign ministers' meeting in Gatineau, Quebec March 29, 2010. (Chris Wattie/Reuters)


The United States would like Canada to stay in Afghanistan beyond 2011, the year Canada is scheduled to end its combat mission in the country, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told CBC's The Hour.

"It's up to Canada to decide how you deploy your forces," Clinton told host George Stroumboulopoulos in an interview that will be aired Tuesday evening.

"But I'm not going sit here and tell you we're happy about it because ... that wouldn't be telling you the truth. We'd love to have Canada stay in this fight with us. But again, you know, you've got your own considerations and we respect that."

Clinton is in Ottawa attending a meeting of G8 foreign ministers to prepare for the G8 leaders summit in Toronto in June. She also attended a meeting of representatives from the five Arctic coastal states near Gatineau, Que., on Monday and will meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Tuesday morning.

To date, there has been no formal request from NATO for Canadian troops to stay in Afghanistan past 2011. Canada began its Afghan mission in 2002.

In 2008, Parliament passed a motion to keep soldiers in Kandahar until 2011. Leaving military trainers in Kabul after the 2011 pullout date would still comply with the federal government's commitment to end Canada's role in the fighting.

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