950 soldiers, staff to remain in Afghanistan: sources

The federal government plans to keep 950 soldiers in Afghanistan past the scheduled July 2011 end to combat operations, sources have confirmed to CTV News.

The figure includes 750 soldiers to train Afghan troops and police, and 200 support staff. While their exact responsibilities and where they will be stationed are not yet clear, a senior official has confirmed that "absolutely none" will work as operational mentors who go into combat with Afghan units.

Reports suggest the federal government will be announcing specifics about the training mission on Tuesday.

The news comes hours after opposition parties called on the government to release more details about the new mission, which is expected to end in 2014.

Earlier Monday, NDP leader Jack Layton called for a Parliamentary vote on the decision to keep troops in Afghanistan past 2011, and repeated that call later in question period.

His defence critic, Jack Harris, said later Prime Minister Stephen Harper is obliged to stay true to a campaign promise from 2006 that military missions would be subject to a vote.

"We're not talking about a humanitarian mission to Haiti. That's a given," Harris told CTV's Power Play Monday evening.

"We're talking here about a commitment made to the people of Canada that was made twice now: in 2006 when there was a vote, and in 2009 when there was a vote. So if the prime minister intends, with apparently the support of the Liberals, to put 1,000 troops in Kandahar for three years, then that requires a vote in Parliament in our view."

Tory MP Laurie Hawn, parliamentary secretary to the defence minister, said the prime minister is "well within his authority" to extend Canada's time in Afghanistan because "it is a strictly non-combat mission."

"This is a method for us to stay (and) provide something that's critically needed," Hawn told Power Play.

The government has provided few details about its plan to extend Canada's mission in Afghanistan beyond the scheduled July 2011 pullout date.

Harper confirmed last week that Canada would keep military trainers in Afghanistan for three more years, but did not specify how many soldiers and support staff would be involved.

He has said because the mission extension is focused on training rather than combat, Parliament doesn't need to approve it.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has said his party supports a military training mission for Canada post-2011 but wants Harper to provide further details.

Liberal MPs echoed their leader's call Monday, saying the government should provide Canadians with numbers, including how many people will remain in Afghanistan, where they will be located and how much the mission is expected to cost.

"In June we made our position clear," MP Ujjal Dosanjh told Power Play.

"In principle we support a non-combat training mission. We don't know how many people they are going to leave there, for how long, what the cost is going to be, whether they are going to be behind the wire or outside the wire. We need to know all of that. Vote or no vote isn't important."

During question period in the House of Commons, Ignatieff did not echo Layton's call for a Parliamentary vote on the issue.

However, he did ask why the government has yet to offer details on the nature of the post-2011 mission when the prime minister is days away from a NATO summit in Portugal at which he will likely provide that information.

"How can the government explain this silence, how can it explain its improvisation, how can it explain its secrecy, how can it explain its lack of transparency with the Canadian people?" Ignatieff asked.

"We've been repeatedly clear on this particular issue," Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon shot back. "In accordance with the parliamentary motion that was adopted here in the month of March 2008, Canada's combat mission will end in 2011. And as we transition out of the combat mission we will continue to provide aid (and) focus on development in Afghanistan. And as I mentioned before in French, a non-combat training role will ensure that the progress made by Canadian forces to date continues."

Cannon also said later that after the government reviews the mission's requirements, further details, including costs, will be presented to MPs.

Earlier Monday, Layton charged that it appears Harper has reached a secret deal with the Liberals to extend the Afghanistan mission without Parliament's approval.

He said it's well known that there are deep divisions within the Liberal party and that a vote in Parliament on extending the mission would expose divisions within the party.

Layton and Harris said the NDP is united in its resolve to bring all combat troops home as scheduled, and focus only on development and diplomatic efforts to help Afghanistan.

"I think the way to honour the sacrifice that Canadians have made is to do something that we can all get behind, and I think we can all get behind doing things for the Afghan people that need to be done," Harris told Power Play. "One out of four children don't make it to the age of five, we've got gross illiteracy, we've got a total failure of even basic skills."

Hawn said Canadians have been helping to build Afghan institutions such as the police and army, as well as on literacy and health care issues, and the new mission will simply shift to focus on those efforts.

"Is it risk free? Nothing is risk free," Hawn said. "But the other side of that is we're leaving Afghanistan a more stable place by building their institutions, like the army, police, judicial system, government, health care, education. We're engaged in all those areas."