Canadian troops serving with allies in Afghanistan cleared for combat

OTTAWA – National Defence successfully pushed the Harper government to ease the prohibition on Canadian troops from setting foot in Kandahar and participating in combat operations.

It was done last year by establishing an exemption for those soldiers serving with allies.

The opposition contend the decision violates both the spirit and the letter of the Parliamentary motion that led to the country’s exit from the Afghan war.

The motion stated Canadian troops would not be involved in combat and leave Kandahar by December 2011.

Documents show the Privy Council Office was asked in the spring of 2011 to approve an exemption for soldiers “working in exchange positions with allied nations”

Less than a half dozen Canadians, most of them with the air force, continue to serve in the volatile region that has been the epicentre of the Taliban insurgency.

New Democrat defence critic Jack Harris says it shouldn’t be permitted and the fact the soldiers and air crew are on a secondment doesn’t make any difference.