Bucharest preview

HotAir doesn't quite get it right - but Canada has put forth a conditional double down,

Parliament voted Thursday to extend Canada's mission in Afghanistan to 2011, ...

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has been under growing pressure to withdraw Canada's 2,500 troops as the death toll has mounted, now at 80 Canadian soldiers and a diplomat. The mission was set to expire in February 2009.

But the minority Conservative government and opposition Liberals agreed last month to vote together on the motion, which passed 198-77.

Here is the condition,

....provided NATO supplies more troops and equipment to back up its forces in the volatile south.
...
The extension of the mission is conditional on NATO providing 1,000 troops, helicopters and unmanned surveillance aircraft to back up forces in southern Kandahar province, a former Taliban stronghold.

Troops from Canada, Britain, the Netherlands and the United States have borne the brunt of a resurgence of Taliban violence in the region, with support from Denmark, Romania, Estonia and non-NATO Australia.

That answer should come at the next NATO Summit in Bucharest this April.

Watch France - this is a chance for Sarkozy to make France the "savior" of NATO and the AFG mission - and if they go to the South, make Germany look bad. That is why my money is on 1,000+ French to the South - if for no other reason than to make the Germans look bad.....