Defence ministers meeting today in the Netherlands are expected to approve chartering up to 20 large helicopters, flown by civilian contractors, to provide vital airlift and reduce the number of military convoys exposed to roadside bombs. Most Canadian casualties this year have been caused by roadside bombs.

Senior officers from countries doing the bulk of the fighting are tightlipped about the scope of the commercial helicopter deal, although there is no secret about the deepening rift in the alliance between those countries willing to fight and those unwilling to help those fighting.

Outsourcing helicopter services will also relieve the severely overstrained U.S. helicopter squadrons in Kandahar whose deployment has been repeatedly extended.

NATO's Military Committee, chaired by Canadian General Raymond Henault, "recently passed to political authorities, advice for their consideration to outsource some of NATO's air transport requirements to meet airlift shortfalls in Afghanistan," said his spokesman, Colonel Brett Boudreau. Continued...