Canada was the first to
speak out against the American strategy in Afghanistan Friday.
The NDP Leader Jack Layton called for an immediate halt to sending more Canadian troops to Afghanistan, warning that Canada must not "drift into a war blindly."
"We appear to be drifting from our original mission there - which was to provide security in the capital region - and into a combat role side-by-side with American troops," Layton said in a statement.
The NATO leadership quickly
chimed in.
NATO-led soldiers to deploy next year to insurgency-hit southern Afghanistan will not take over counter-terrorist operations conducted by US-led forces, a spokesman said Monday.
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), made up of troops from more than 30 countries, is due to expand and move into the south amid signs the United States is seeking to cut down its presence in the volatile area.
"The mandate and the mission of the ISAF troops when they operate in the south will be that of providing security assistance to the government...and not of overt counter-insurgency or counter-terrorist operations," spokesman Major Andy Elmes said.
The nearly 20,000-strong US-led coalition is based mainly in eastern and southern Afghanistan to hunt down militants loyal to the extremist Taliban government removed from power in late 2001 and other Islamic fighters.
Attacks by Taliban and their allies have claimed about 1,500 lives this year and cast a shadow over Afghanistan's moves towards democracy since the removal of the hardline regime in a US-led invasion.
ISAF currently numbers nearly 10,000 troops and will get another 6,00O as it moves from western and northern Afghanistan, and areas around the capital Kabul, into the south.
Once the force moves southwards, the United States is expected to trim its 18,000 troops in the coalition, according to media reports quoting U.S. military officials.
[...]
This is significant in that NATO has basically said "Your strategy isn't working and we aren't going to follow it as we take over duty in your areas."
And the evidence that our Afghan strategy isn't working is more than
obvious. The fact is that the Taleban is more powerful in Afghanistan than at any times since late 2001.
Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor at large for United Press International, told Fox News Channel Monday that the fiercely anti-Western Muslim fundamentalists are regaining control of portions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, which is "good news for Osama bin Laden."
De Borchgrave visited Afghanistan before the Asian earthquake where the Taliban "seems to be spreading its wings" again where once they had been driven away by U.S. and Pakistani troops.