Government ‘reviewing’ plan to cut danger pay for soldiers in Afghanistan

OTTAWA – A plan to reduce danger pay for Canadian troops in Afghanistan is now under review by the Harper government.

The stipend was reportedly facing a cut of more than 30 per cent, which would have meant nearly $500 a month less for roughly 920 soldiers based in Kabul, who are training Afghan forces.

The rationale for the initial decision, which was made by the federal Treasury Board, was that Kabul is safer than Afghanistan’s volatile south, where Canadian soldiers are no longer serving.

Veterans Affairs Minister Stephen Blaney says the decision is being “reviewed.”

One Canadian soldier — Master Cpl. Byron Greff — died in Kabul in October 2011 when a suicide bomber attacked a bus carrying NATO troops.

Most of the military’s internal assessments of the Afghan capital describe the risk of serving there as being moderate to high.