The last few weeks have seen a flurry of promises, dates and opinions regarding the potential withdrawal of ISAF troops from Afghanistan.  While both President Obama and Gordon Brown have publicly declared a surge in troop numbers for their respective countries’ armed forces, Canada has stuck to its guns.

Wednesday’s announcement by foreign minister Lawrence Cannon that Canada’s government would not change its planned withdrawal in 2011 seemed to show solidarity with Obama’s pledge, repeated this week, that the withdrawal of American soldiers would begin in mid-2011 despite an additional 30,000 being deployed in the coming months.  The question though, is whether a strict end date can be placed upon an operation that has seen its objectives muddied and targets missed time and time again?
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