40th CANADIAN TO BE LOST: while Afghan troop restrictions draw fire from O'Connor

Canada's defence minister has urged some NATO allies to do more in volatile areas of Afghanistan, saying they put too many restrictions on their troops — sometimes even banning nighttime missions.

A day after Canada lost its 40th soldier on the mission, Gordon O'Connor told CBC Newsworld on Sunday that the country, Britain and the United States are currently bearing most of the burden in dangerous southern Afghanistan.

Trooper Mark Andrew Wilson, a father of two from London, Ont., was killed in Afghanistan on Saturday.(DND/CP)

O'Connor said Poland recently agreed to contribute 1,000 troops to NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), but said other countries should be contributing more.

"There are larger NATO countries that have put a whole lot of restrictions on their forces. They will not move geographically from the north or from the west. Some of them will not even allow their forces to go out at night," O'Connor told the CBC.

"We want these restrictions taken off their forces so that they can be deployed by the ISAF commander anywhere in Afghanistan."

Pressed by the CBC's Carole MacNeil, who suggested he was referring to France and Germany, O'Connor said: "There's more than them," and then mentioned Italy and Spain.

He also said if there were two more battle groups from NATO countries, "then we can keep the Taliban suppressed."

He said he is lobbying for the additional forces, has asked Afghanistan to move more soldiers and police to the volatile south where Canadian soldiers are regularly fighting the Taliban, and wants Pakistan to close the border so militants cannot move back and forth.

Soldier mourned

O'Connor's plea for help came as troops mourned the death of Trooper Mark Andrew Wilson, who was killed by a roadside bomb on Saturday the Panjwaii district west of Kandahar. Thirteen Canadian soldiers have died in the volatile district since Sept. 1.

Wilson, a father of two from London, Ont., was part of the Dragoons reconnaissance team and was based in Canadian Forces Base Petawawa in northeastern Ontario.

He was killed as he rode inside a Nyala armoured truck, described by the Department of National Defence as a blast-resistant vehicle. It was the first time a Canadian soldier travelling in a Nyala has been killed in Afghanistan.

Canada, which now has more than 2,000 troops in Afghanistan and is leading NATO's forces in the south, has lost 40 soldiers and one diplomat since it began the mission in early 2002; 33 of the casualties occurred this year.

War at a 'tipping point': NATO chief

Elsewhere, NATO's top commander in Afghanistan warned Sunday that the war is "at a tipping point" and more troops are needed to defeat resurgent Taliban militants.

Gen. David Richards, a British officer who commands NATO's 32,000 troops in Afghanistan, warned in an interview with the Associated Press that Afghans could switch their allegiance to the Taliban if daily life doesn't visibly improve during the next six months. "If we collectively … do not exploit this winter to start achieving concrete and visible improvement," then some 70 per cent of Afghans could switch sides, Richards said.

Afghanistan is going through its worst bout of violence since an American-led invasion removed the former Taliban regime from power in late 2001, after the al-Qaeda attacks on the United Strates.

Last Updated: Sunday, October 8, 2006 3:22 PM ET
CBC News