NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen welcomed Canada's decision Tuesday to send up to 950 military trainers to Afghanistan, saying it would help the handover of security responsibility to Afghan forces.
The announcement came ahead of a NATO summit in Lisbon on Friday and Saturday during which the alliance will endorse a plan to start handing over security to Afghan forces next year and give them the lead nationwide by 2014.
"I warmly welcome Prime Minister (Stephen) Harper's announcement that Canada will deploy a substantial number of trainers to the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan," Rasmussen said in a statement.
"In just a few days, at the Lisbon Summit, we will launch the transition process, and early next year Afghan forces will steadily begin taking the lead for security throughout the country," he said.
"This Canadian contribution of hundreds of trainers will help the Afghan security forces to more quickly become capable of securing their own country against terrorism and extremism — a goal we all share."
Canada currently has 2,800 combat troops in Afghanistan. They are mandated by parliament to return home in mid-2011 after nine years of rooting out insurgents as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
"Canada has contributed substantially, over many years, to the operation in Afghanistan. Canadian forces have made a real difference in the lives of the Afghan people, often at a high cost," Rasmussen said.
Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay said the "non-combat training mission" would be mostly centred around Kabul for in-class and other instruction including the handling of firearms and physical training.
The Canadians are to remain in Afghanistan until 2014.
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