Cannon stresses to Clinton need for civilian presence in Afghanistan

In a meeting on Tuesday in Washington, between Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the topic of civilain presence in
Afghanistan was brought up and discussed. Cannon said that civilains in aid organizations had helped in Kandahar with police and border managment, and reconstruction work. Cannon also said he welcomed the US deploying more troops in the south, and that he expected them to work closely in Kandahar.

" 'I also reinforced the need for additional civilians in the field as key to Afghanistan achieving its goals of governance and self reliance," Cannon told reporters after the meeting. "In the light of Canada's experience in Kandahar, I also offered to share the lessons Canada has learned.' "

He said he told Clinton he increased civilian presence in Afghanistan. Most of Canada's soldiers are in the Kandahar province right now. Obama has said he wants to send 30,000 more soldiers to the are, although he has only approved 17,000 to go so far. During his visit in Ottawa, Obama said he didn't press Prime Minister Stephen Harper into keeping Canadian forces in Afghanistan longer.

"We did not go into anything beyond 2011, beyond the present mandate that the government of Canada has," Cannon said about meeting with Clinton. Cannon apparently also brought up the case of a Canadian named Omar Khadr, who was accused of the murder of a US soldier during a firefight in 2002 and is currently being kept in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
He said the topic was raised while talking about Obama's directive to shut down the naval prison in 1 year.
"I wanted to get an idea from Secretary Clinton as to what the steps forward were to be, and secretary Clinton gave me a brief description of where this process was probably going to lead in the coming months," said Cannon. He also added that Canada has not said whether or not they will repatriate him.
"This individual is, allegedly, a murderer," he said. "I have indicated today the government of Canada fully respects the process that the American government has put forward, and we will await the outcome of that process before anything takes place."