OTTAWA, Sept 3: Canada has no plans to deploy troops to Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor said, denying reports that he had suggested such a deployment.
However, he added in a statement late Saturday, cooperation between Canadian and Pakistan troops fighting Al Qaeda and Taliban forces along the border could involve placing a few Canadian liaison officers with the Pakistan military.
“At no time did I advocate, suggest or imply I favoured stand-alone Canadian troop deployment in Pakistan,” O’Connor said of Canadian media reports after his visit to Islamabad.
“What I said was that Canada needs to engage with Pakistan as part of our security and reconstruction mission in Afghanistan. This means greater coordination between Canadian troops in Kandahar and Pakistani troops in Western Pakistan,” he said in the statement.—AFP
