Canada committed to long-term Afghan support
KABUL – Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin received Canadian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Morris Rosenberg, at the Foreign Ministry this afternoon.
Ludin expressed the gratitude of the Afghan government and people for Canada’s support to Afghanistan’s security and development over the past decade.
“There is an intimate appreciation of Canada’s engagement in Afghanistan over the past ten years among our people and government,” Ludin said. “And this has come at the cost of great Canadian sacrifices for the security and the generous assistance of Canada for the development of Afghanistan.”
Rosenberg reiterated Canada’s most recent commitment from the International Afghanistan Conference in Bonn to long-term engagement with Afghanistan and continued development support to the country.
“This is a deep and multi-faceted relationship. The sacrifices that Canada has borne here speak to our past and present commitment to Afghanistan,” Rosenberg said. “We’ll be here after 2014.”
A total of 195 Canadian soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan over the years. Today, with nearly 1000 soldiers in the country, Canada is the second-largest contributor to NATO’s training mission for the Afghan national army and police. Canada has so far provided a total of nearly $2 billion to Afghanistan’s reconstruction, with an additional pledge of $720 million for the period 2011-2014.
Morris was accompanied in the meeting by the Charge d’Affaires of Canada in Kabul, Shelly Whiting, Graeme McIntyre, director of the Afghanistan Task Force at the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and Lt Gen Stuart Beare, commander of Canadian Expeditionary Force Command
