Canada's PM Harper visits Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, May 7 (UPI) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his chief of defense made a surprise visit to Afghanistan Thursday to brief combat troops about coming changes.

Harper and Gen. Walter Natynczyk spoke to about 200 Canadian troops at Kandahar Air Field and said Canada is "moving to a mission with more defined civilian objectives," a Canwest News Service correspondent reported.

Harper said a brigade of 17,000 U.S. soldiers is scheduled to arrive in the summer, which would help ease the load on Canada's 2,800 troops whose mission is scheduled to end in the summer of 2011, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

"We did not come here as permanent occupiers, and we do not measure our success by the length of our stay," Harper said. "Our mission is to leave Afghanistan to its people as a viable country, as a more peaceful country, a country in control of its own destiny."

Harper's third visit to Afghanistan was brief. He and Natynczyk took a helicopter tour of a dam being repaired by Canadians, then addressed the troops. During his speech, Harper announced an additional $2 million in funding to UNICEF, which he said will help about 20,000 children.

Harper and the general served coffee to the soldiers before leaving.

Since 2002, 118 Canadian soldiers have died in the NATO Afghanistan mission, along with one diplomat and two aid workers.