The head of the Canadian Armed Forces has issued orders to prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2011 in the absence of a clear direction from government on the mission's future shape.

CBC News has learned that Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Walt Natynczyk has ordered his commanders to start preparing military plans to pull out of Afghanistan and return thousands of soldiers and billions of dollars' worth of equipment to Canada.

Maj. Cindy Tessier, a spokeswoman for Natynczyk, suggested the plans were a measure of prudence.

"The parliamentary motion was clear, and prudent military planning has begun," she told CBC News. "That commences with orders."

In March 2008, Parliament voted to extend the mission until July 2011. The parliamentary motion said all troops must be out of Afghanistan by the end of that year.

There are 2,800 Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, based primarily in Kandahar province.

Natynczyk's orders are designed to implement Parliament's decision, pending an announcement of any new plans for the military. They follow months of intense speculation about the government's plans for the mission in Afghanistan.

The government has insisted Canada's military mission will end in 2011. But its ministers and staff — including Defence Minister Peter MacKay — have suggested Canadian soldiers could remain in Afghanistan beyond that deadline, though perhaps not in combat.

That speculation prompted a flurry of criticism from military experts and former commanders.

Retired general Rick Hillier, who preceded Natynczyk as chief of the defence staff, said it was folly to think Canadian soldiers could remain in Afghanistan and not be involved in combat.

On Friday, MacKay, told reporters the government has been consistent on the pullout of troops.

"We have been crystal-clear at a military level and a political level — the prime minister, myself, the minister of foreign affairs, Gen. Walter Natynczyk — [the] combat mission will end in 2011.

"Certainly one of the best things that our military do is planning and contingency planning so they're making the necessary arrangements to prepare for that inevitability in 2011."

As recently as this week, MacKay said the government had not yet made up its mind about troops after 2011. The defence minister said the government was waiting to hear if U.S. President Barack Obama would commit more troops to the fight in southern Afghanistan before deciding what Canada's own mission would look like.