Ottawa, Canada (AHN) - Canada's foreign and defense ministers on Thursday reiterated Ottawa's position not to extend Canadian troops' mission in Afghanistan beyond 2011.Responding to U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' remarks in Kandahar that a longer stay of Canadian soldiers in southern Afghanistan is better, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon and Defense Minister Peter MacKay issued separate but similar statements saying "Parliament has decided that our mission there ends in 2011."
The rebuff came a day ahead of Cannon's trip to Washington to meet with State Secretary Condoleezza Rice. The economy and Canada's Afghan mission will be among the agenda of their meeting.
Nearly 3,000 Canadian soldiers are based in Afghanistan's violent southern region, where attacks by Taliban insurgents are on the rise.