Canadian Minister Warns Against Mali Entanglements

Could end up with "another Afghanistan"

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird warned against getting involved in "another Afghanistan," expressing deep skepticism about a military intervention in Mali and about the West African nation's army and government.

Although he didn't rule out sending Canadian military trainers or funding West African forces, Mr. Baird on Tuesday offered the Harper government's first blunt, public caution that Mali could become a quagmire. He said intervention there will not turn into peacekeeping, but ground insurgency "like we've seen in Iraq, and like we've seen in Afghanistan."