Afghanistan committee  I am not authorized to put any questions, but have you had an opportunity to discuss things with the Strategic Advisory Team?

Afghanistan committee  I understand the principle that you are invoking, but I am not really in a position to discuss it. However, as you said, circumstances in 2005 made it difficult to do exactly what we had intended to do with our military strategic planning ability, because of the difficult and dem

Afghanistan committee  We are absolutely on track for that and engaged to some degree. In addition to the Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team force structure, we have a number of Canadians who are part of the U.S. command team building the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police. Brigadi

Afghanistan committee  I have not necessarily properly understood your question, but I am going to try to respond all the same.

Afghanistan committee  I think that I have understood the important part of your question. When civilian entrepreneurs, international organizations and NGOs can set up shop because there is an acceptable level of security, our role is not as important. If we cannot convince them to be the first to go

Afghanistan committee  As to the differences between conflicts, it all depends on which ones you are talking about. From a Canadian perspective, if we draw a comparison with the Second World War, the Korean War or the First World War, we realize that they are completely different. Even during the Cold

Afghanistan committee  Those are complex questions. Training isn't strictly physical training or instruction, it really is training. We establish a relationship with sub-units, units, a formation and a brigade which is affiliated with the Canadian formation. Each Afghan infantry battalion has 500 to

Afghanistan committee  With all due respect, sir, looking purely at numbers is a little bit of a mug's game. Of course, what's not reflected in the numbers is that most of those folks are leaders. So in terms of leadership, we have more leadership capability or capacity invested in the OMLT component o

Afghanistan committee  I think they'll do whatever they can at the time most suited to their capabilities. In our opinion, that time is now and over the next couple of months. Then we'll see a repeat in a more concerted way in the time leading up to the election through May and June of next year.

Afghanistan committee  In classic counter-insurgency operational theory, the challenge is to gain traction on a bottom-up basis. In talking about traction, we use the notion of ink spots that spread over time while we're building national institutions. We are more focused on the bottom-up piece of th

Afghanistan committee  We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. It's all speculation at this stage. I'm certainly not concerned about it, I will tell you, as the guy who is overseeing this mission right now. I see only positives in having more troops, more capable troops, deploying.

Afghanistan committee  Right. The challenge with the surge is that it needs to be followed up. I think, by and large, when you surge forces in, they're able to disrupt, which doesn't necessarily have a lasting effect. They're able to clear, which doesn't necessarily have a lasting effect, unless you're

Afghanistan committee  It is absolutely seamless, without question. This will be a success story. I can tell you that up and down the chain of command, the prospect--if there is a prospect--of partnering with the U.S. forces.... We're very familiar with them, very interoperable, and like-minded in many

Afghanistan committee  Clearly that would be the objective. The ISAF commander, I think, has gone on record as saying that he foresees success in that sense, in that timeframe. I think that will depend. Different formations will be ready at different times. But that clearly is our end state. What we're

Afghanistan committee  From a military perspective, that has been our view all along. I've been briefing these three lines of operation for the last two and a half years. We have a leadership role in security, but securing is the foundation for governance and development for which other government depa