OTTAWA - Canada intends to keep military trainers in Afghanistan until 2014, according to Defense Minister Peter MacKay, despite France's announcement last week that it would bring home all its troops a year earlier than planned in 2013.
The controversial French decision, which threatens to divide NATO over the pace and scope of the alliance's troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, was made only days after four of its military trainers were murdered by an Afghan soldier they had been instructing.

Canada was also preparing contingency plans in case the situation worsens in Syria or in case a war involving Iran erupts over its nuclear program. The Assad government has been using lethal violence to suppress protesters in Syria and Prime Minister Stephen Harper has called Iran's nuclear program the greatest threat to world peace today.

In a marked shift of tone from a few years ago, when he and other government ministers were sharply critical of some European countries for not contributing combat forces in Afghanistan, MacKay said, "We are grateful to France and other countries" involved in NATO operations there. The minister said he was "mindful" of the casualties that France had suffered recently and that "every country must make its own decisions according to its own circumstances."

Speaking about the 925 Canadian trainers still in Afghanistan, MacKay said, "The ground is shifting a bit on some countries' commitment . . . but we are very solid in our commitment to this through 2014."
This was, he said, in keeping with an Afghan plan to take over full security responsibilities in two years.

Debate about Canada's continuing role in the Afghan war has dropped off sharply since the last combat troops returned home from Kandahar seven months ago. However, nearly 950 troops remain in northern and western Afghanistan, training Afghan soldiers and policemen.

"They are very busy," MacKay said of the last Canadians troops based in Afghanistan.
"Capacity building is intense, especially with some accelerated timelines."

Sounding upbeat after months of demands by the opposition that he apologize or be sacked because of how he had used military aircraft, MacKay`s comments were made during a telephone interview in advance of a summit of NATO defence ministers later this week in Brussels.

The specter of some kind of military intervention in Syria and the possibility of war with Iran will inevitably be discussed at the meeting.
For the first time ever Ottawa has forward-deployed a frigate to the Mediterranean Sea for at least one year to provide a persistent Canadian presence near potential flashpoints. MacKay was cagey about whether HMCS Charlottetown might be involved, as it and another frigate were during NATO's sea campaign against Libya last fall.

"Any future deployment would be simply responsive," MacKay said. "There is a lot of discussions about what might unfold in Syria. We are working with our allies and more intimately with our colleagues in foreign affairs."
As to the Charlottetown's whereabouts: "It is a very strategic location. That is all I can say."

MacKay did not rule out the long-rumored possibility that Canada might withdraw this year from its last permanent operational contribution to NATO in Europe. There are about 120 Royal Canadian Air Force aircrew and technical specialists based with a multinational AWACS airborne early-warning squadron in Germany. The squadron flew many missions in support of the alliance's air campaign in Libya.

"There has been official decision, no announcement," MacKay said, somewhat elliptically. Many options were under consideration, he said, because of cuts that are expected across all government departments in the next budget.

The minister returned to Ottawa on Monday for the reopening of Parliament after attending the Toronto Officers' Garrison Ball in Toronto with his new bride, Nazanin Afshin-Jam. The occasion honored the Queen's Own Rifles and other Canadian regiments with connections to the war of 1812.

"It feels very good, completely comfortable," MacKay said of his marriage to the human rights activist and former Miss World Canada.

For several years, MacKay was often described as Parliament's most eligible bachelor. MacKay confessed that he was "a little surprised" at the attention that his marriage last month in Mexico had received and that his wife "was somewhat taken aback" by the publicity. Nevertheless, "the response" to their nuptials "from friends and colleagues had been overwhelmingly favorable."

However, MacKay sounded rather ill at ease talking about his personal life. What he preferred to discuss were issues surrounding Canada's relationship with NATO. (Agencies)