Walt Natynczyk

The Chief of Defence Staff attempts to split the difference.

The government has released a statement to explain General Walter Natynczyk’s disclosure that transfers have been stopped more than once.

Leaked news that Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, is urging President Barack Obama to think twice about sending more troops to the troubled country makes for some interesting discussion about the ways diplomats and generals sometimes try to publicly pressure their political masters.

CBC, October 10. The Conservative government intends to keep some Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan in a non-combat role beyond Parliament’s 2011 end-date for the military mission, CBC News has learned. Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office, told CBC News there will be Canadian troops in Afghanistan after 2011, though “exponentially fewer.” “I would caution you against saying dozens or hundreds or a thousand, there will be exponentially fewer,” Soudas said. “Whether there’s 20 or 60 or 80 or 100, they will not be conducting combat operations.“

Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Walt Natynczyk just told CBC’s Evan Solomon that he’s started doing what’s required to pull Canadian troops out of Kandahar in 2011, in keeping with the House of Commons motion passed on March 13, 2008 that commits the government to doing just that.