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OTTAWA — British legislators have overwhelmingly supported keeping their troops in Afghanistan until 2015 but that country's renewed support for their Afghanistan mission has no bearing on Canada's plans, according to the Prime Minister's office.
Thursday's 310 to 14 vote in Britain's House of Commons to reaffirm their military presence in the war-torn country was the first in nine years since Britain first deployed its troops there.
Canada's plan to pull our troops out next year, though, remains unchanged.
"Other countries will set their own policies," wrote PMO spokesman Andrew MacDougall in an e-mail. "The government's position has not changed: the military mission ends in 2011."
There are approximately 10,000 British soldiers in southern Afghanistan, and more than 330 have been killed since 2001.
Canada has just over 2,800 troops in Afghanistan, primarily in Kandahar, and 152 have died since 2002. Four Canadian civilians have also been killed, including one diplomat, one journalist and two aid workers.
In March 2008, Parliament voted to extend the combat mission until July 2011, with all troops out of Afghanistan by the end of next year.
The Dutch coalition government collapsed in February over a similar debate to extend its own troop deployment in Afghanistan, and all 2,000 Dutch troops left Afghanistan in August.
Poland is expected to end its military mission in Afghanistan in 2012, and the United States is set to begin a slow withdrawal next year.
bryn.weese@sunmedia.ca