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Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier says there's no rush to find a NATO partner for Canada's deadly combat mission in Afghanistan — although he expects a deal very soon.

Bernier made the comments Monday, just hours before Prime Minister Stephen Harper was to depart for a NATO leaders' summit in Bucharest.

It's been expected that Canada's demand for reinforcements in the volatile Kandahar region would be settled at the summit.

But both Harper and Bernier suggested Monday that the matter will take longer to resolve.

Harper said he's confident that Canada's military allies will come through with 1,000 additional troops and equipment "in the not too distant future."

Bernier later suggested the matter could be settled "in a couple of weeks," adding that there's no hurry.

"We have until February 2009 to find more troops and to find the equipment that we need, so we still have time," Bernier said.

Harper, with the support of the Liberals, won parliamentary support for a motion to extend Canada's military mission in Kandahar until the end of 2011.

However, the motion also makes it clear that the mission will end in February 2009 unless NATO steps up with 1,000 additional troops and battlefield helicopters and unmanned surveillance planes for use by Canadian troops.

Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae was surprised by Bernier's assertion that there's no rush for reinforcements.

"I think that's wrong," he said. "We owe it to our troops and we owe it to everyone else to get this settled much more quickly than that."

Rae noted that the government insisted on holding the vote to extend the mission several weeks ago, contending that parliamentary support would strengthen Harper's hand at the NATO summit. He questioned why Bernier has now changed his tune.

"My own view is it's not a matter just of Canada. I don't think NATO itself can afford this kind of indecision and this kind of delay. We owe it to our own people, we owe it to the people of Afghanistan to be clearer."

Only hours before his departure for the NATO summit, Harper reiterated the threat to withdraw from Kandahar if the 1,000 troops aren't pledged.

"I have always been clear; if our conditions are not met, we would withdraw," Harper told the House of Commons.

"That said, our discussions with our allies, and also our equipment procurement, continue to go very well. I have every reason to believe that these conditions will be fulfilled in the not too distant future."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has committed an additional 1,000 troops for Afghanistan but they are likely to be deployed in the eastern region, near Kabul. Such a move could free up American forces to join Canadian soldiers in Kandahar.

The United States has already deployed 3,200 marines in Kandahar but only for a brief seven-month stint to counter an anticipated spring offensive by Taliban insurgents.

Other NATO countries, including Spain and Germany, refuse to deploy troops in Kandahar, where the insurgency is extremely dangerous.

Poland, meanwhile, appears ready to increase its offer of helicopter support for Canadian troops in Kandahar.

CBC

[JohnCenaFan28]

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