Canadian withdrawal from Afghanistan loss to NATO: expert

OTTAWA, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. expert sees Canada's withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2011 to be a great loss to NATO's mission there, Canadian media reports said Wednesday.

The Canadian departure would seriously undermine NATO's war as it is not about a small number of troops but a big issue as the loss of experience and credibility with local Afghans, according to Anthony Cordesman, a U.S. counter-insurgency expert, who served as a special adviser to the alliance's new ground commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal.

"It isn't simply a matter of troop levels," Cordesman, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

"It's a matter of experience continuity, having shaped the security presence in one of the most critical provinces in the country. And so would a Canadian departure seriously hurt NATO? The answer at least this point seems to be: Yes."

Canada first sent troops to Afghanistan in 2002 and has suffered one of the most serious fatalities among the NATO countries there. The government, under great domestic pressure to withdraw, has pledged to bring back its 2,500 combat troops by early 2011.

Despite pleas from the new secretary-general of NATO and hints from the Obama administration that it too wants Canadians to stick around longer, Ottawa has shown little sign that it intends to budge from the intended withdrawal date.