OTTAWA - The U.S., Britain and NATO headquarters spearheaded a stealth diplomatic charm offensive to keep Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan until 2014, mindful that too much pressure could "blow up" their efforts, The Canadian Press has learned.

Almost three months ago, those major allies presented Prime Minister Stephen Harper with their plan calling for hundreds of Canadian Forces personnel to stay in Kabul to train the Afghan army for three years beyond Parliament's withdrawal deadline.

The foreign governments stepped softly because they knew Harper had made strong public pronouncements that "other than the odd guard guarding an embassy," no Canadian soldiers would remain in Afghanistan after July 2011.

"I wouldn't want to describe it as being pressured or being leaned on. We all know Prime Minister Harper has very clear views about what he wants to do, and a very clear picture of what's going on in Afghanistan, so there's no point in us trying to put pressure. If anything, that would just blow up in our face," said one foreign diplomat.

"We identified fairly early on, if Canada felt it could, taking on some kind of substantive training role to the 2014 mark would be great."

Sources have told The Canadian Press the government is considering sending 600 to 1,000 soldiers to Kabul until 2014 to bolster NATO training efforts.

On Monday, the commander of NATO's training mission in Afghanistan said the alliance faces a shortfall of 900 trainers and, if they don't find enough from member countries, the eventual withdrawal of international troops could be stalled.

Those numbers mean Canada has the potential to play a good-guy role in saving NATO's foundering training program -- the same narrative allied countries have used to persuade Harper to change his mind about pulling all troops out next year.

Canada's allies essentially tried to flatter Harper into accepting a military training role, stressing that they understood Canada had sacrificed enough on the front lines of Kandahar but were still needed in Afghanistan.

The government was told Canada would be "seen as the country that actually helped NATO overcome what's a real problem" in finding enough competent trainers.

"That's the pitch behind it: we think Canada is well placed to do this, if they want to," said one diplomat.

They also courted the support of Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and his foreign affairs critic, Bob Rae, because they understood that Harper was not prepared to risk his minority government without some political support from across floor of the House of Commons.

"We recognize politically this is not the world's greatest vote winner," said the diplomat, adding the hope that "behind the scenes, the opposition and the government could work something out on this."

Ignatieff said Monday he can't support the Harper government's sudden proposal to extend Canada's military mission in Afghanistan until he gets all the details.

"The devil is in the detail. How many troops, for how long, in what role, with what allies, with what mission?" Ignatieff said.

"This is amateur hour if you don't have clear answers to those questions. So we're saying come clean with the Canadian people."

Ignatieff said Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon called Rae "out of the blue" Friday to float the idea of a training mission.

The minority Conservative government will need Liberal support to win parliamentary approval for a non-combat role after 2011. NDP Leader Jack Layton has already said he believes Canada's soldiers should get out of Afghanistan entirely as scheduled, a position that's been echoed in the past by the Bloc Quebecois.

Ignatieff signalled that Harper shouldn't take Liberal support for granted.

"This isn't the kind of thing you want to do some secret deal with the Liberals about. This is a conversation that has to be done with Canadians," he said.

Ignatieff said it's clear the Harper government is "scrambling" to respond to international pressure at the 11th hour before a Nov. 18-20 NATO leaders' summit in Lisbon, Portugal.

It's clear Canada's allies would like the training problem, and Canada's future in Afghanistan, to be settled by the time Harper and his fellow NATO leaders meet in Lisbon.