Mr. Chair, I was aware of a number of reports that spoke generally of the conditions inside the Afghan prisons. What I had been most interested in and most involved in is the allegations that involved Canadian-transferred detainees. Let's not forget that this is the primary focus of our responsibility. We're all seized with and concerned with the conditions of prisons everywhere, but in Afghanistan our primary responsibility was for detainees we had taken in the field and then turned over. The hundreds of allegations of torture that may exist in other reports are of great concern to us, but our primary focus and responsibility is for Taliban prisoners we had turned over to Afghan authorities. That was where our responsibility lay.
On December 9th, 2009. See this statement in context.