Afghanistan Committee on April 30th, 2009

[Alan Tonks, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Thank you. I'm bowing to seniority here. I do not sit on this committee, but I certainly would like to thank you for the tremendous work that's being done against huge hazards, and it's very much appreciated.

My question is training-related in relation to coordination. I think it was Deputy Commissioner Souccar who talked about the European Union police-led committee. What is that committee, and is it a coordinating committee? I didn't quite understand that, and I wonder if our committee could be....

[D/Commr Raf Souccar]

It is an International Police Coordination Board committee headed by EUPOL. Mr. Vittrup heads it. EUPOL is ultimately responsible as head of the training that's being provided in Afghanistan. All the contributing countries plug into it, so a strategy can be put in place in terms of what and where training is provided.

The need for Canada to have senior representation on that committee is essential. The head of mission sat and still sits on that committee. Our assistant commissioner, whom we're deploying to Afghanistan, to Kabul, will also be part of that committee, so it becomes very important to plug in at a senior level.

[Yves Brodeur]

It's also co-chaired by the Ministry of Interior of Afghanistan. So the Afghans are directly involved in this.

[Alan Tonks, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

There's an old saying, and I think it was Wellington who said that tactics win battles and strategies win wars.

Have you seen analytical documents that come through that committee that appraise what is being done, where the gaps in the training are, where they should be filled, and who they should be filled by? I think that's what the committee would like to be assured of: that the lifting is done with equity and with the degree of support that you have earned, that Canada has earned. Is that something the committee should do in an analytical and accountable way?

[D/Commr Raf Souccar]

Absolutely, they should and they do. This is not a committee that throws darts at a board to determine what should and shouldn't be done. Information, intelligence--all the countries that are part of this committee have something to contribute. Together this is collected and a rational discussion takes place in terms of a strategy of where to go, based on that.

[Yves Brodeur]

There's also something important in going back to the involvement of the Afghans in this process. For instance, the Minister of Interior is now conducting a study about their needs, how many police officers they need, and all that. Eventually, the result of this will be that they're leading. It's their country. These are their needs that we're talking about. We will come forward to a group like this one where a minister, presumably Mr. Atmar or someone from his department, will have to say, well, here is the result, so how do we adapt to this? That's the discussion this group will have. How do we actually need that? Is that a reasonable demand? They'll ask if it works and how we accomplish that.

[Alan Tonks, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Good.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Just before we conclude this further, I have one question. I'm not sure who could answer this.

Somebody commented earlier that the losses of the Afghan National Police are higher than those of the army. Where are those losses coming from? Are the police involved with the Taliban, or is that just their duties in their communities? How are those losses accumulated?

[Yves Brodeur]

Losses are basically happening in area sectors where there is very little security, where the safety is very low. In most cases, these are attacks by the Taliban and people being shot. I have a few statistics. In 2007-08, they lost 830 police officers in Afghanistan as a whole. There were 1,147 injured. So that gives you a sense of it. This is why it's so important for the international community to teach survival skills in a hostile environment and why we also have our military police officers and infantry involved in this.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Thank you. I appreciate that, and I appreciate your being here today and for providing answers for the committee. I think you did a very good job. You certainly helped us bring some light into what's going on as we're training the police force in terms of what has happened, where we are, where we need to be, and the resources that are going to be needed to do that. So I appreciate that.

We'll pause for a minute while we go in camera.

[Proceedings continue in camera]