Thank you, Chair. I will be sharing my time with Mr. Dewar. I'll take about half the time.
First of all, General Natynczyk, I want to thank you and all of you for being here. But I want to say to all of you that our trip to Afghanistan last June was a real eye-opener. I think that like all of our committee, I was extremely impressed with the quality of our forces: with their competence, with their professionalism, with their commitment to serving their country. Each and every engagement was of the utmost level of professionalism—with Ambassador Crosbie and others we encountered as well.
I think all who were there were particularly impressed with the work of the individuals who were involved in the counter-IED efforts. The extreme courage shown by these people to save the lives of their fellow soldiers and others who were using these roads struck me as being particularly engaging. I think Canadians have every reason to be extremely proud of the soldiers: that the men and women who serve in our armed forces in Afghanistan are taking the risks and making the sacrifices that they have done. I want to acknowledge that up front.
I address this also to you, sir. Last November you appeared before the defence committee and I must say provided with terrific clarity the plans for the withdrawal from Afghanistan in accordance with the parliamentary motion: the end of the combat mission in July and the complete withdrawal of forces by the end of December.
At that time, you indicated that not only was the combat mission ending in July but that July was the beginning of the withdrawal of forces as quickly as possible. I just want to ask you—your statement today is not as specific as that, but then, you haven't been asked the question, so I'm asking it now—are we still committed to saying that once the combat mission ends, we are withdrawing our troops?
Obviously it's going to take people to...and six months is the expected timeline to get everything out and to get the equipment cleaned up and on board. If you're going to do what you say here—continue with the mission exactly until that date and in full operation—we understand that it would take time. But are you still committed to beginning the drawdown of troops immediately, and could you elaborate on that a little bit?