Leave aside the possibility of David Mulroney's gainsaying testimony putting the boots to Richard Colvin, by this time next week Canada and our attack-dog Tory government will find itself in a decidedly altered policy context as regards Afghanistan. Next Tuesday, Barack Obama will announce his decision regarding the future course of the American involvement in Afghanistan and the border regions. At a press conference with the Indian Prime Minister today Obama said:
"After eight years, some of those years in which we did not have, I think, either the resources or the strategy to get the job done, it is my intention to finish the job. And I feel very confident that when the American people hear a clear rationale for what we're doing there and how we intend to achieve our goals, that they will be supportive."
He added a little later that one of things he'll be discussing during this address "is the obligations of our international partners in this process."
The key words here are "finish the job," by which Obama means "dismantle and destroy the networks of al Qaeda and their extremist allies" and "obligations of our international partners" by which he means NATO.
Obama is going all in. And as with his other go-big-or-go-home causes - health-care reform and economic restructuring - when the time comes, he will remember those who stood with him and more importantly he'll remember those who didn't. A couple of weeks ago I saw Romeo Dallaire tell a room full of doves at Princeton University that Afghanistan was a 40-year undertaking. And while The One would shudder at the political implications of that commitment, the reality is what it is. Shortly the ball will be in Steve-Os court and by then worrying about the Richard Colvins of this world will seem like a luxury.