National Defence committee  I am referring to the Operational Mr. Speaker, Mentor and Liaison team which we refer to in English as OMLT.

National Defence committee  No, there are 64 people, Mr. Bachand, as I said a few moments ago. But, it's true, the vast majority of Canada's operational force in Afghanistan today is there to provide security in order to pave the way for reconstruction and development.

National Defence committee  No. Control zones are the top priority, you have to establish a military presence. This military presence doesn't necessarily need to be Canadian. It may take the form of the Afghan military or police. So, we're not exclusively talking about the military. When I refer to the pr

National Defence committee  To some extent, yes.

National Defence committee  I would ask the question: focused in what sense? We have a campaign plan, with three pillars — or three lines — of operation, two of which are to provide military support in the areas of reconstruction, governance, capacity building, etc. The reality out in the field in southern

National Defence committee  My comment on that, as a simple soldier who is focused on the military realm and the security realm, is that I don't have a comment on it, quite frankly. There might be a Government of Canada view. You'd have to speak to the Department of Foreign Affairs about that.

National Defence committee  I was in the centre section of the House of Commons when President Karzai spoke to all of you about the progress that was being made in Afghanistan. I did not get the sense from those comments that he felt that Afghanistan was regressing, sir, with all due respect.

National Defence committee  They're not entirely left up to me. The rules of engagement are the responsibility of the Chief—

National Defence committee  That's correct.

National Defence committee  General Fraser gets his orders from one person, and one person alone.

National Defence committee  That's correct. Exactly.

National Defence committee  Yes.

National Defence committee  That's correct. Yes.

National Defence committee  I certainly wouldn't characterize it as being unpatriotic, and far be it from me to challenge anybody's right in Canada to say whatever they want about the mission. There is the classic line about what the military role is in a democracy, and it's all about defending people's rig

National Defence committee  I could answer that in a number of ways. I will say, first of all, that there has been a program under way—and I think the CDS made reference to this in previous testimony—called PTS. “Peace through strength”, I believe, is what that stands for. It's clearly an Afghan government