OTTAWA - In the wake of Barack Obama's trip to Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and one of his senior ministers will travel to the United States next week.
Afghanistan will be on the agenda for both Harper and Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon on their separate trips to New York and Washington.
Officials on both sides of the border say the visits will emphasize development issues in Afghanistan, not combat.
The non-military focus of those discussions was announced Friday as White House officials acknowledged Canada's stated position that it will end its combat role in 2011.
Obama revealed during his visit that he did not press Harper for an extended commitment, and the president's officials said Friday that they will now steer the conversation to other areas.
"Prime Minister Harper stressed the fact that this was not open for review. They were going to be there until 2011," said James Steinberg, U.S. deputy secretary of state .
"I think, from the president's point of view, the focus was, we're going to focus on the other legs of the stool -- on the governance issues, on the development issues, on the political strategy."
He said during a media briefing that the new U.S. administration wants to hear Canada's opinions as it conducts a strategic review of its own Afghan operations.
Obama has already said he will send at least 17,000 additional American troops to Afghanistan, as combat intensifies there while it winds down in Iraq.
Steinberg added that with a critical NATO summit just six weeks away, the new administration must quickly determine how allied countries can co-ordinate their efforts more effectively.
"Until we have greater clarity about what we think the right way forward is, we're not focusing on specific asks so much as really collaborating and consulting with others about their own views about this," Steinberg said.
"As we get closer to the summit, obviously, we're going to want to work with our allies to have a more concrete game plan about who can contribute what."
The prime minister will head to New York on Monday for a pair of meetings.
The first -- with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon -- will focus on global security and on Afghanistan.
A Canadian official, citing safety concerns, declined to say whether the recent abduction of diplomat Robert Fowler in Niger would also be discussed.
Harper has also scheduled a round-table meeting with business leaders in New York, with the global financial crisis is likely to be the top item.
Harper's U.S. visit was being planned before Obama came to Canada. But the official said it will help capitalize on the goodwill created during the president's trip.
And he said that Conservatives hope positive initiatives will define the Canada-U.S. conversation, instead of allowing inevitable skirmishes over trade and foreign policy dominate discussion as they have in the past.
"There will always be irritants in a relationship that is as broad and deep as the Canada-U.S. relationship," the Canadian official said.
"But it is in the interests of both countries not to let the irritants becoming the defining features of that relationship."
On Tuesday, Cannon will visit Washington for a meeting with his famous American counterpart: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
American and Canadian officials said the two will talk about Afghanistan, and the ongoing U.S. strategic review.
"The prime minister and president set out an agenda yesterday," said Cannon spokeswoman Catherine Loubier.
"Minister Cannon and secretary Clinton are immediately engaging to deliver on this agenda."
