That's a very good question, honourable member. The ANP needs not just training but support in more comprehensive ways, for a number of reasons. One, unlike the Afghan National Army, which was an institution that was built from scratch nine years ago through the intervention of the United States.... That involved not just recruitment and training but actually the build-up of a new, effective structure. As a result, that institution has become today, despite all its challenges, perhaps the most respected and most efficient and effective institution in the country.
The AFP has not had that. The police were not abolished at the beginning. The police did not receive an investment on the same scale at the outset. As a result, even though a lot of investment has gone in over the years and a lot of work has taken place, it still lacks a lot of very basic capacities. This is in a situation where they are, as I said, at the forefront of this war. They suffer more casualties than any other institution, whether within or outside Afghanistan.
So they would require organizational support to restructure, to take the reform process that's ongoing. Canada is already helping through the RCMP. I know this is one element of that.
As I said, by far the biggest provider of support is the United States, mainly on the training side. There are ways in which Canada can complement that. As I said earlier, I think one example, in a very specific area, is how police can handle the problem of IEDs. That would be an enormous contribution to the Afghan police if they were able to have that capacity, the equipment, the technical skills. They would also benefit from specialized training.
In addition to the police, the NDS, the National Directorate of Security; the reason it would be more appropriate for Canada to focus on that is because, in terms of scale, I think Canada would be a more appropriate organization to deal with it. It's a much smaller organization. As I said, it's an organization that already has had some cooperation with the Canadian government.