A senior Canadian commander in Afghanistan says Canada may have to consider keeping troops in that country for many more years or even decades.
Lt.-Col. Alain Gauthier told CTV's Paul Workman that Canadians should look at our experiences in other conflict zones to gauge how long a successful mission may take.
Gauthier noted that Canada stayed in Bosnia for 15 years, and even today the former Yugoslav republic has international soldiers on its territory. Another example: Cyprus, where Canadians stayed for 35 years. He also added that peacekeepers have been in place for more than five decades in the Golan Heights.
Gauthier served in Bosnia, Haiti, and Timor, before leading a battle group in Afghanistan.
"Based on my experience of other places, these kinds of conflicts, long-term conflicts cannot be solved in a matter of months, or a few years," said Gauthier.
"It takes a lot of time."
Gauthier told Â鶹´«Ã½ that Afghans are constantly asking Canadian soldiers how long Canada intends to stay. They're concerned that Canada's commitment will be too short and that the Taliban will return if NATO forces leave too soon.
"There is no magic solution to a long-term conflict like this," Gauthier said.
"There is no template that you just apply and you end up with a free country, that (runs) by itself. You've got to try a few things and if it doesn't work you try something else and eventually you'll try the right solution that works for the Afghan people."
But Gauthier noted that the NATO's role in Afghanistan is to provide security, rather than solving the country's problems. Canada's strategy is to help build that country's police and security forces so that Afghanis will be able to trust them.
But Gauthier says Afghanistan's security forces aren't anywhere near being ready to taking control.
"Being with them for a month on checkpoints is not enough. We need to be with them several months to really help them to understand what the job is all about and to build confidence among the local people towards their police, which now is largely non-existent," Gauthier said.
Gauthier says Canadians and military leaders need to be patient. He bluntly notes that Afghanistan is not stable enough for NATO forces to leave.
"If you really want to help the Afghan people, you have to think of this as a long-term solution. It's not a short-term solution," he said.
With a report from CTV's South Asia Bureau Chief Paul Workman in Afghanistan
