Reading between Manley’s lines

It’s hard to argue with former deputy prime minister John Manley’s panel’s findings on Canada’s role in the Afghanistan mission.

Manley and his panel found Canadian objectives are honourable and achievable - though there are obstacles: regional instability, slower than desirable development progress and social and systemic hurdles in Afghanistan.

They also found NATO allies have to come up with a 1,000-man battle group for the south and additional aerial assets are necessary.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government hasn’t been successful in helping Canadians understand the mission and its objectives, Manley reports.

The British, Dutch and Americans are working hard in the south, but other NATO forces are entrenched in the calmer north and have put restrictions on their troops -- working at night, or in combat.

If NATO fails to come to the plate with a real commitment by early next year, it would be time for Canadians to haul arse out of there.

Canadian young people have been doing their part, but they can’t – and shouldn’t even try to -- do it without full commitment of NATO.

Meanwhile, Stephane Dion’s Liberals want a softer job for the Canadian troops in Kandahar – don’t we all. It appears that is unrealistic under the current circumstances.

As defense staff chief Gen. Rick Hillier noted, there are no other jobs in the south that don’t involve some aspect of combat.

Manley is a pragmatic Liberal, generally like former prime minister Paul Martin – the Liberals our own Scott Brison joined when he left the now defunct federal Progressive Conservatives.

As a party, the Liberals have, of course, since regressed to the Trudeau-Chrétien morass.

In all of this, Harper has scored political points in an indirect way. It’s not just getting a Liberal to almost agree with him. He knows his successor as prime minister is going to be a Liberal. It more than likely won’t be after the next general election, but it’s surely going to be after the following one.

By giving Manley high profile and renewed prestige, Harper has, in effect, moved Canadian politics in the next few years to the centre right.