Canada will announce by next April whether it plans to extend its combat mission in southern Afghanistan, the defense minister said Monday, but stalling a decision might prompt impatient opposition parties in Parliament to bring down the government next month, AP reported. Defense Minister Peter MacKay said Canada must deliver an answer at the NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, in April. Opposition parties are pressing the government to give an answer. The governing Conservative party is the only party that favors an extension of the current mission, which is set to expire in February 2009. «There is a NATO meeting in April 2008,» MacKay said. «It will be necessary to communicate a final decision before that meeting.» Seventy Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have lost their lives in Afghanistan since 2002. Canada has about 2,300 soldiers in the country, mainly operating in Kandahar province, the former Taliban stronghold.
