Countries that pull their troops out of Afghanistan prematurely would be guilty of a moral failure, senior Canadian and United Nations diplomats warned Thursday.

“If we were to withdraw tomorrow, our allies would feel betrayed,” Michel de Salaberry, Canada’s new senior civilian co-ordinator for Kandahar, said in an interview. “We’ve said we’d stay until 2009. Morally, we have to live up to that pledge.”

Over the longer term, he added: “I think we’ll want to stay committed to Afghanistan, but that can take a variety of shapes.”

Chris Alexander, Canada’s former ambassador to Afghanistan and the current UN deputy there, added early withdrawal would amount to “renouncing on a mandate conferred on (Canada) by the Security Council of the UN.”

“In fact,” he added, “to refuse fighting the Taliban would mean we are refusing and rejecting our responsibilities, our institutions, ourselves. It would be a worldwide failure and a failure of our souls.”

The tough rhetoric came at a major international conference on the future of Afghanistan, and was a direct response to the growing political opposition among some NATO_countries, including Canada and particularly Quebec, to continued military involvement in the war-torn country.

However, none of the diplomats, academics and military officials assembled here pleaded directly with Canada to stay in Afghanistan after the current commitment expires.

On Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier also warned the conference that Canada’s international reputation is at risk if it doesn’t meet its commitments in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said Parliament must reach a “consensus” on keeping Canada’s 2,500 troops in Afghanistan beyond its original commitment of February 2009. However, this appears unlikely as the opposition Liberals are calling for an end to combat operations in the volatile southern Afghan region around Kandahar by that date, while the NDP wants the troops brought home now.

The Afghan deployment is now a sensitive issue in Quebec because the Royal 22nd Regiment from Valcartier, Que., sent 2,000 soldiers to Afghanistan last month and has already seen three killed. Polls show that about two-thirds of Quebecers oppose the military mission.

Alexander said Canada’s international commitments to Afghanistan must transcend partisan politics.

“The resolutions authorizing our political mission of the UN, authorizing ISAF, authorizing military action in Afghanistan — military, development, counter-narcotics and otherwise — are all commitments made by the international community, regardless of partisan issues,” he told reporters.

“Canada has to see itself, as other countries have to see themselves, as an important member of that group, which collectively has a responsibility.”

Martin Howard, NATO’s assistant secretary general of operations, said Canada’s efforts and sacrifice are hugely appreciated in Afghanistan. But more needs to be done.

“The key word here is long term. The commitment of the international community, NATO amongst it, for the long term is absolutely vital for the Afghanistan’s future,” he said. “It is not something that can be sorted out in a few months or even a few years.”

Meanwhile, in a speech to the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion attacked Harper’s handling of Afghanistan as an “appalling example of a foreign policy blunder.”

“Mr. Harper has given Canada a foreign policy that draws its inspiration from the American right,” Dion said.

But one tough critic of the western intervention in Afghanistan made an impassioned plea for the United States and its NATO allies to stay the course in Afghanistan. Barnett Rubin, a political science professor at New York University, argued Thursday that many critics of the international efforts in Afghanistan are influenced by animosity towards an unpopular U.S. President George W. Bush.

“Unfortunately, Afghanistan has suffered because of the decisions of the Bush administration in Iraq — not only because it diverted resources, but (also because) it detracted from the legitimacy of operations in Afghanistan,” said Rubin, a former UN special adviser to the post 9/11 Afghan peace process, who has argued that the international mission is not truly helping the Afghan people.

If NATO countries “withdraw from the operation and leave Afghanistan to return to chaos, they will all be losers and so will the Afghan people.”

(Courtesy: CanWest news Service)