"Big Boy" Canada demands changes in Afghan government

Bernier told a press conference in Kandahar that Afghan President Hamid Karzai should work with us to be sure that the [Kandahar] governor will be more powerful, [that] the governor will do what he has to do to help us. And theres a question of maybe having a new governor.

Its a decision, continued Bernier, the president will have to take in the near future about the future of the governor we have here. Is it the right person in the right place at the right time? President Karzai will have to answer these questions as soon as possible.

Only minutes later Bernier made similar comments in French, his first language.

According to the Globe and Mail, Canadian officials including Bernier had been privately pressing the Afghan government to replace Asadullah Khalid as Kandahars governor and, earlier during Berniers visit, they had extracted a promise from Karzai that Khalid would be removed within weeks. Canadian officials now fear that it will be difficult if not impossible for Karzai to oust Khalid, since he will so demonstrably be doing so in response to pressure from Canada, whose troops are playing a major role in propping up his government. Theres a bit of scrambling now, an unnamed Canadian official told the Globe.