Afghanistan committee  I'm not sure what my authorities are in forbidding people from coming to testify in front of Parliament. I'd have to walk through that, sir.

Afghanistan committee  Sir, thank you very much for that. Can I just say, not only was it my job during these past three and a half years, it was my passion. What am I going to do in my retirement? I am going to run in Saint-Jean and I'm going to beat Mr. Bachand a hundred to nothing in the election.

Afghanistan committee  Sir, thank you very much for the question. I'd hesitate before I would say “things committed by” as in determination that, yes, they were. As far as I know, any of the things that we have heard have not been in direct witness of any actions, so I think we want to be very careful

Afghanistan committee  Sir, if you want my honest opinion, I think it would be a total waste of time right now. I tell you that. I think you would be chasing a little wisp of fog, thinking it was smoke, without determining first of all if there's a fire there. I think that's what we should first do, de

Afghanistan committee  Sir, I could come back and just mention that I always believe that in a dark cloud there's a silver lining, and if you work hard enough, in a silver cloud you can find a dark lining. There are obviously lots of folks who always want to do that. From our perspective militarily, w

Afghanistan committee  I'm sorry, sir?

Afghanistan committee  We weren't involved in combat operations right after they escaped. Certainly there has been combat up in the Arghandab district today. There are Taliban around there, and the Afghan forces and our troops are in contact with the Taliban up in that area. And we continue, by the way

Afghanistan committee  In fact I do, and I've had some significant discussions with their chief of general staff, General Kayani, about the challenge. The challenge is really almost the same, if not absolutely the same, as the challenge inside Afghanistan. The military will bring about a temporary ab

Afghanistan committee  Thank you for the question. I'll just start at the third point and work backwards. I'm a Newfoundlander, so my mind works in mysterious ways, even to me at times. On the poppies and the drug issue, this is a massive problem. Nobody minimizes it and I certainly would not. I've

Afghanistan committee  I would say it's anything but. First, I'd look at it from the friendly forces side. When we were in Operation Medusa, we had no Afghan forces with us whatsoever. They simply weren't available, and those that were available around the north or near Kabul were not capable of coming

Afghanistan committee  As for their tactical capabilities, I'm focused on building an Afghan National Army brigade in Kandahar province, with all the supporting pieces. If we accomplish this, we will have made significant progress. Three years from now, we will have a robust brigade that will be well t

Afghanistan committee  In fact, no, it doesn't, Mr. Dewar. I think we have the most positive of both sides of the fence with the least risk. ISAF-NATO has taken on the mission for the security in Afghanistan itself. OEF continues to keep the mission for building the police of Afghanistan under their ma

Afghanistan committee  In fact, it's largely the latter. I don't follow Iraq in great detail. That's not my part of ship. I have sufficient to occupy my every waking hour, all the time. What I have been able to assess myself is that they've had some progress in Iraq that is actually fairly significant

Afghanistan committee  No, not at all.

Afghanistan committee  I think there's been a great realization that we've been doing this all along and that now we're doing it much, much better. The Canadian Forces have been doing much of the reconstruction outside Kandahar City. In many cases, we're using money provided and generally overseen by C