Afghanistan: Should the Canadian mission continue to 2014?

An Afghan police officer holds his certification during a graduation ceremony at the Provincial Reconstruction Team compound run by Canadian soldiers in Kandahar, in February 2010. (Allauddin Khan/Associated Press)

By CBC News

Canada's plan to extend the Afghanistan mission by three years in a training support role carries high risks and a low chance of success, says a report released Monday.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced last November that Canadian Forces would act in a safer non-combat training role until 2014.

But the report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Rideau Institute says soldiers are likely to be killed or injured attempting a task that will ultimately fail.

According to analysts Michael Byers and Stewart Webb, military training always poses risks, and the Taliban have increasingly targeted training facilities while infiltrating the Afghan army and police.

The report says that widespread illiteracy and high desertion rates among Afghan soldiers and police, and worsening security in the country as a whole, doom the effort to failure.

Read more.

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