Harper, to his credit, has remained firm. Canada’s commitment to help rout out Taliban extremists dates to 2002 when the then Liberal government dispatched the first units to join the international military mission. Today 2,500 Canadian Forces are stationed in what would probably be the equivalent of Iraq’s once-lawless Anbar province, the unruly southern Kandahar region bordering Pakistan. Yet, with 22 soldiers killed this year so far, and 66 during the deployment, public opinion in Canada continues to erode for the deployment which some military experts say disproportionably exposes the Canadians. Before anyone may question the relatively low losses, recall Canada’s population is approximately 10 percent of the USA.

Though the multinational mission has 35,500 troops, half of them American, Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands are also major troop donors. Still a scathing British parliamentary report criticized some NATO countries for not doing enough on the front lines of combat in southern Afghanistan. “We remain deeply concerned that the reluctance of some NATO members to provide troops for the (International Security Assistance Force) mission is undermining NATO's credibility and also ISAF operations,” stated a report of Britain's parliamentary defense committee, in a direct reference to the reluctance of some countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain to send troops where the Taliban insurgency is strongest.

Ottawa’s Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay stated, “I'm glad the Brits have added their voice to this clarion call for other NATO countries to step up and to help with the burden-sharing that's going on in the south.” Quoted in Toronto’s National Post, MacKay said Canada would turn up the heat on fellow NATO members to do more in the “soft underbelly” of southern Afghanistan. He also dropped further hints Canada's combat role could be finished by February, 2009, when parliamentary approval runs out.

He told the National Post, “The bottom line is: the clock is ticking, and it's not just ticking on Canada and our role. That bell tolls for all. We're looking at doing our part. And I believe we've more than done our share of staring into the eyes of the enemy. Not to be dramatic about it, but if we are not able to secure that ground in the south, this is the weak underbelly of the mission.”

Sending foreign troops into Afghanistan in the first place was not an easy political sell. The German public has been decidedly nervous about the deployment in the relative safe areas where 21 troops have already been killed; the Italian government almost collapsed over the 2,000 man deployment; even France’s new government is of mixed opinion about the 1,000 troops in the country. Significantly Poland has added additional troops to the equally dangerous Paktia province, Hungary sent units to Kandahar, and tiny Estonia has dispatched 100 men to Helmand province.

“I don't see a kind of moral opposition to this mission. What I see is a growing concern of Canadians, and of the burden that we are carrying and the level of Canadian casualties,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper conceded.

In recent decades Canadian Forces have performed yeoman service in United Nations peacekeeping operations worldwide. Still the army has not been thrust into a direct combat role since the Korean war 1950-53 where Canada suffered heavy losses.

The Harper government has signaled that the military mission will end in February 2009 unless Parliament decides to extend the mandate, which appears unlikely. At the same time Ottawa is expanding its economic aid for Afghanistan, already Canada’s major foreign assistance client.

Nonetheless Afghanistan’s vulnerable frontier with Pakistan remains a hotbed of Taliban terrorism. I recall seeing Afghan President Hamid Karzai last year where he spoke quite candidly how Pakistan has allowed these Taliban and Al Qaida militants free reign in certain border regions. Islamic radicals have targeted foreign troops with roadside bombs have increasingly attacked Afghan civilians as a form of intimidation.

Most of the multinational forces will hold firm, but as in Iraq time is of the essence; to train local army units and police and to give citizens of this ethnic quilt called Afghanistan reason for unity and hope free of the Taliban’s harsh fundamentalism.