Globe and Mail: Tories knew 1,000 French troops pledged before Manley recommended them, MP asserts

[tuvor]

OTTAWA -- France will send 1,000 troops to Afghanistan, allowing an equivalent number of Americans to assist Canadian forces in Kandahar, in a deal that was worked out even before the Manley commission recommended such an arrangement, according to a senior Liberal MP.

The Conservative government, with the help of the Liberals, recently approved a motion to extend the mission in Afghanistan to 2011 on condition that another NATO country send 1,000 troops to assist the Canadians in Kandahar. That was the recommendation of a commission led by former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley which issued its report in January.

But Denis Coderre, the Liberal defence critic, said the addition of 1,000 NATO troops was already a "done deal," although it is his understanding that the French soldiers will not be sent to Kandahar, the dangerous southern province where the Canadians are stationed.

Instead, said Mr. Coderre, they will go to the eastern region that is under the control of the Americans, allowing U.S. troops to go to Kandahar.

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080324.AFGHANCANADA24/TPStory/National