National Defence committee  You're talking about where we're operating in the south?

National Defence committee  They've seen this before. In fact, they've seen worse before. Remember, the Soviet Union killed two million people there over a 10-year period. They're used to high levels of violence. What we're doing is relatively minor compared to the historical experience, which is passed on, by the way, through oral tradition in the various communities.

National Defence committee  Actually, yes. When I've talked to them.... Remember, we're dealing with a completely different culture from urban Canada. We're dealing with something that is so radically different you actually have to be there and encounter and talk to these people. I have made great attempts to do this when I've been there, because it's so easy to sit with our guys and just see what our guys are doing.

National Defence committee  That's fine. Everybody is entitled to their point of view. I've talked to a lot of people who--

National Defence committee  Pakistan. The main issue here is what we're looking at when we look at Pakistan. Are we looking at a unified country? Are we looking at a nearly failed state? Are we looking at a nearly failed state with nuclear weapons? Balujistan especially, which is right across the border from Kandahar, has had an insurgency going on for decades.

National Defence committee  I think so, because they were able to operate fairly effectively with Waziristan, and they shut a lot of stuff down in Waziristan. I think the will is lacking right now; I think we need to put a lot of pressure on Pakistan to deal with this. I think it can be done.

National Defence committee  That may be beyond the confines of this mission. But I think it can happen, which leads me to a further point. When you look at Afghanistan, you have to look at it as a regional situation. You can't just look at it as a single country.

National Defence committee  Okay, we have a bunch of diverse questions. Which one do you want me to talk about, the first one?

National Defence committee  Let's talk about what the enemy are doing. Are we seeing a shift? We see constant shifts in Afghanistan in terms of how the enemy do business. We've seen this over the past several years. They'll try to move back and forth between different levels of violence and different techniques to try to counter what we're doing, because we're constantly evolving as well.

National Defence committee  I've been to this country, as I've pointed out, on numerous occasions. When I was there in 2003 in Kandahar, there was virtually no justice system. Justice was cutting somebody's throat and hanging him from a bridge with a sign saying not to fire rockets at the camp. We don't have that now.

National Defence committee  It will take 50 minutes to explain this to my students, but....

National Defence committee  What do you want to tackle first?

National Defence committee  I'm sure I can address that on a number of planes. One of the problems we have is that many Canadians have a vision of what's going on in Afghanistan through the media and not actual ground experience. Part of the media's problem is that it tends to focus on the more exciting aspects and not the unexciting aspects of it, which involve the things you're talking about, such as school construction, etc.

National Defence committee  One of the problems we have in the public domain debate over what we're doing in Afghanistan relates to the artificial distinction between combat operations and developmental aid and the continuum that exists between the two. On the ground, the enemy--and the enemy is not just the Taliban, there are a number of enemies that work together--employs a variety of techniques to accomplish its objectives.

National Defence committee  I've been asked to make myself available for questions on the current state of operations in Afghanistan, so I'd better provide you with some of my background. I'm a military historian. I currently teach contemporary warfare at the Royal Military College. I have travelled to Afghanistan annually for the past four years, starting in 2003.