Canadian PressPublished: Friday, February 17, 2006
Source: Canada.Com
OTTAWA -- Stephen Harper is considering one of the most chaotic corners of Afghanistan as a preferred destination for his first prime ministerial foreign trip.
Perilous, sandswept Kandahar is being weighed against a more genteel option -- visits with the presidents of the U.S. and Mexico -- for Harper's first trip abroad.
Harper is expected to make all those stops eventually. He began pondering the Afghanistan option in the days after his election win.
In a post-election briefing with top military brass, Harper was urged to visit Canadian troops stationed in the southern Afghan city.
The prime minister was told that such a visit would send a strong message about his commitment to the military, and about Canada's desire to make a difference in the world.
Officials in at least two federal departments said Harper has expressed support for the idea -- without committing to it.
"Everybody's talking about it,'' said one federal official.
Another official said he found it significant that the one foreign country Harper mentioned in his Jan. 23 victory speech was Afghanistan -- not the U.S. or any other European ally.
He followed up that election-night address with a speech days later to a group of Canadian election monitors preparing to leave for Haiti.
"Canada may not be a superpower -- but we stand for higher values to which all peoples aspire,'' Harper told the audience.
"And it is important that our actions as Canadians promote these values in all corners of the Earth.''
He cited freedom, democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and compassion for the less fortunate as core values Canada can export.
Afghanistan and Haiti are at the front lines of Canada's democracy-building efforts.
The Conservative platform calls for an additional $5.3 billion in military spending over five years and 13,000 more regular forces.
In Kandahar, Canada's military presence is being increased to 2,200 this month in an effort to improve security in the longstanding Taliban stronghold.
The posting is considered far more dangerous than Canada's earlier mission to the capital Kabul.
Last month a Canadian diplomat was killed and three Edmonton-based soldiers were seriously injured when a suicide bomber attacked their convoy.
The Jan. 15 attack was one of two insurgent strikes against Canadian troops within a week. Nine Canadians have been killed in Afghanistan since early 2002.
Officials in the Prime Minister's Office said they had not heard of any plans for a trip to Afghanistan.
However, they said visits with Canada's NAFTA neighbours -- the U.S. and Mexico -- appeared to be in the cards.
Harper is expected to take his first foreign trips before Parliament returns April 3.
His first visit with Bush is being scheduled for late March. It may come during a White House stop before or after Harper meets with the U.S. president and Mexican president Vicente Fox in Mexico to review the continental relationship.
Canada's relationship with the United States soured at the executive level under former prime minister Paul Martin.
U.S. ambassador David Wilkins took the rare step of publicly rebuking Martin in the middle of the election campaign, accusing the Liberal leader of trying to score electoral points by pummelling the United States.
The Canada-U.S. relationship has bedevilled prime ministers since Confederation.
Canadian political leaders have been forced to walk a fine line between conducting good relations with the country's largest trading partner and appearing to cozy up to a country whose policy aims can run counter to Canada's.
During his first news conference after being elected, Harper tried to draw a distinct line in the relationship. Unprompted by a query, he said he would be making his own policy decisions rather than taking his cue from the U.S. ambassador.
A day earlier, Wilkins said he saw no need for the new Conservative government to enact its platform commitment to assert Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic by increasing patrols in the polar region.
© Canadian Press 2006
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