Dion clarifies Pakistan comments

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion scrambled Thursday to clarify reports that he suggested sending NATO troops to Pakistan, saying instead he was in favour of "diplomatic intervention" to bring peace to the troubled region.

Dion said this week that the mission in Afghanistan would never be able to bring about peace while Taliban militants were seeping across the border from neighbouring Pakistan.

Dion told CBC Thursday that diplomacy, not troops, must be used to curb the flow of militants over the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
(CBC)

"If [Pakistani leaders] are incapable of doing it themselves, it is something that we could envision with NATO forces — how to help Pakistan help us bring peace to Afghanistan," he said during a news conference in Quebec City Wednesday.

But in an interview with the CBC's Peter Mansbridge Thursday night, Dion backed away from the suggestion that NATO forces be deployed to Pakistan, emphasizing instead a need for greater diplomatic effort.

"It was diplomatic intervention with an effort that must be more concerted between Canada and our NATO allies," Dion said.