Canada eyes permanent Afghan mission

OTTAWA, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Canada's government asked Parliament Friday to extend the country's Afghanistan combat mission indefinitely if other NATO nations send 1,000 more troops.

The Conservative Party said if the measure did not pass, the government would be dissolved and new elections called, The New York Times said. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives do not control a parliamentary majority and the leaders of the three major opposition parties oppose continuing the combat mission.

Canada has 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, constituting the main combat force in Afghanistan's dangerous southern provinces -- and 78 soldiers and one diplomat have been killed. Along with other Western troops, they are fighting a resurgent Taliban.

No NATO member country has yet agreed to send large numbers of troops to the southern region, the Times said. The United States has said it would temporarily send 3,200 from Iraq -- 2,200 of them to the southern region -- but they should not be considered long-term reinforcements.

The United States has 26,000 troops in Afghanistan.

Canadian officials were in Paris Friday to discuss a possible French deployment in southern Afghanistan. France has 1,900 troops in the country, mostly in the relatively peaceful north.