Canada Confident on NATO Troops for Afghanistan

Canada has threatened to pull its troops out next year unless NATO allies come up with 1,000 soldiers to reinforce them.

Canada is confident NATO allies will pledge the reinforcements needed for its contingent to remain in Afghanistan despite uncertainty over a pledged French deployment, its prime minister said on Wednesday.

But Stephen Harper acknowledged French President Nicolas Sarkozy had made "no iron-clad" commitment to NATO on how many troops would be forthcoming, and that it was unclear when any troop pledges would be confirmed.

"I am optimistic ... whether it is at this summit or in the weeks to come. We've had good discussions with allies," Harper told a conference ahead of a NATO summit in Bucharest. "We are very confident."

Canada has threatened to pull its troops out next year unless NATO allies come up with 1,000 soldiers to reinforce them.

Diplomats had expected Sarkozy to offer at the Bucharest summit to send such a number to eastern Afghanistan, which would allow U.S. troops there to redeploy alongside the Canadians.

Sitting next to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Harper said he believed Afghanistan's fledgling army would by 2011 be able to take over leadership of military operations in the violent southern province patrolled by Canada's 2,500 troops.

"President Karzai tells us this can be done in Kandahar. That is what we are working for," Harper said, noting that such an objective was part of a resolution passed by the Canadian parliament.