With international partners growing impatient, Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced at a conference of high-level defence officials on Sunday that he is considering the introduction of conscription. Karzai told the delegates at the Munich Security Conference that conscription may be necessary in order to meet the recently adopted international goal of creating a 300,000-strong Afghan […]
Archive | February, 2010
Army "readjusts" reserve budget
The Canadian Army has reallocated $5 million to pay for Reserve training that it cancelled earlier this year as a cost-cutting measure. In a press release last week (“Class A Reserves receive $5 million for training,” 3 February 2010), Army commander Lieutenant-General Andrew Leslie acknowledged that “Obviously the situation is not ideal, as this funding […]
Situation in Afghanistan improves; Taliban desperate
2010 “‘After a difficult year in 2009, we now see a new momentum in 2010 and it has already started,’ [NATO Secretary-General Anders] Fogh Rasmussen said Friday.” (Slobodan Lekic, “NATO Chief: Situation improving in Afghanistan after tough year,” Canadian Press, 5 February 2010) 2009 “The insurgents are desperate and they are employing desperate tactics.” Brigadier […]
Pentagon requests record $708 billion budget
The Obama administration on Monday requested Congressional approval for a record $708 billion in military spending for fiscal year 2011. Defense Secretary Robert Gates stressed the need for the Pentagon to prepare for a broader range of approaching security challenges while continuing to fund two ongoing wars and also expanding operations in Yemen and Somalia, where […]
Loon watch: CDAI "promotes informed public debate"
The mandate of the Conference of Defence Associations Institute is to “provide research support to the Conference of Defence Associations (CDA) and promote informed public debate on national security and defence issues.” And as a contribution to that informed public debate, the latest edition of its magazine On Track contains an article by retired Colonel […]