Canada might not be able to keep its troops in Afghanistan beyond 2009 as it has to prepare for the massive security requirements needed for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, a newspaper said on Monday.

"Planning the security required for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver is a high priority activity that represents a major commitment for the Canadian Forces and will have a significant impact on Canada's activities in 2009 and 2010," the French-language newspaper "Le Devoir" said, citing an internal Defence document.

Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor was told by department officials last spring that Canadian Forces must make difficult decisions about its commitment in Afghanistan beyond February 2009, the date when the current mission in Afghanistan expires, it said.

The document said that the military's commitment to security for the Games could influence their capacity to "deploy a large number of soldiers abroad."

O'Connor, however, told "Le Devoir" earlier that no decision had been made yet regarding the deployment of troops after 2009.

He denied that there was a link between the expiry date for the mission in Afghanistan and the Winter Games.

"Our contribution to the security of the Games hasn't yet been decided, even if we think it will be significant," he said. "As long as we don't know the size of the task, it's difficult to predict what will happen."

Canada's mission to Afghanistan was supposed to end in February 2007. But the government tabled a motion to extend the mission by two years, which narrowly passed in Parliament in May.

Canada currently has 2,300 soldiers in Afghanistan, mainly in the south where the insurgent-led resistance is strong.

The 2010 Winter Olympics will be held from February 12 to 28 in Vancouver and the mountain resort of Whistler in western Canada.