Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the country will not pull its troops out of Afghanistan, despite opposition calls for debate on the issue.
Mr. Harper said Tuesday, that debating the deployment could weaken the troops and put them in danger.
Canada has 2,300 troops in Kandahar as part of a NATO mission and was originally scheduled to pull them out after a short time. But military officials say the troops' return likely will be delayed.
Over the past week, two Canadian soldiers have died in traffic accidents and another was attacked with an axe. Ten Canadian troops and one diplomat have died in Afghanistan since 2001.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.