CANADA TO QUIT AFGHANISTAN IN 2011

Prime minister Stephen Harper said Canadians do not want to keep soldiers in Afghanistan beyond then, and 10 years of war is enough.

"We intend to end it," Mr Harper told reporters during a breakfast briefing.

Mr Harper's comments go beyond the agreement his parliament passed in March, which only stipulated that Canada would remove troops from Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar in 2011.

The prime minister's vow to leave comes as the death toll for Canadians approaches 100 in Afghanistan. Canada has lost 97 soldiers and one diplomat in Afghanistan.

The Taliban has warned that they plan to step up attacks during Canada's national election campaign. Harper triggered an early election on Sunday, dissolving parliament in a bid to bolster his party's grip on power in an October 14 vote.

Harper said it is not a realistic goal to eradicate the insurgency in Afghanistan by 2011. Development assistance for the country will continue, Mr Harper added, and a small number of troops would likely stay behind to offer technical support to coalition countries that remain.

Canada has 2,500 soldiers stationed in Kandahar province, the former Taliban stronghold that has again emerged as an epicentre of violence.

Canadian Retired Maj General Lewis MacKenzie, the commander of a UN force in the Balkans, criticised Harper for announcing a deadline during an election campaign.

He said: "I don't like announcing deadlines to an enemy force that now says to themselves, 'Well, we're getting rid of the Canadians so let's turn our strategic attack on some other country'."