Canada extends Afghan mission, with conditions 
TORONTO (AP) Parliament voted Thursday to extend Canada's mission in Afghanistan to 2011, provided NATO supplies more troops and equipment to back up its forces in the volatile south.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has been under growing pressure to withdraw Canada's 2,500 troops as the death toll has mounted, now at 80 Canadian soldiers and a diplomat. The mission was set to expire in February 2009.
But the minority Conservative government and opposition Liberals agreed last month to vote together on the motion, which passed 198-77. The Liberal backed the extension after Harper promised the mission would increase its focus on training and reconstruction.
Conservatives had declared the motion a confidence vote, which would have triggered early elections if it failed.
The extension of the mission is conditional on NATO providing 1,000 troops, helicopters and unmanned surveillance aircraft to back up forces in southern Kandahar province, a former Taliban stronghold.
Troops from Canada, Britain, the Netherlands and the United States have borne the brunt of a resurgence of Taliban violence in the region, with support from Denmark, Romania, Estonia and non-NATO Australia.
Harper has reached out to several key NATO allies to get more soldiers for the south, but the refusal by some major European allies to send a significant number of troops has opened a rift within NATO.
France is considering a Canadian request for more troops to reinforce its position in the south, though previous French policy is to keep its forces in more peaceful regions of the country.
France has said it will either send troops to Afghanistan's east or south. President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to make his position clear at the NATO leaders summit in Bucharest, Romania in early April.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-03-13-canada-afghanistan_N.htm?csp=34 
