Afghanistan Committee on Nov. 24th, 2010

[Jim Abbott, Conservative, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Now, there's no possible way that one single nation like Canada, no matter how well intentioned and no matter how well funded, can solve that entire problem. Give us a bit of an idea of what percentage of the entire Afghan problem we are actually able to impact.

[Françoise Ducros]

On every issue or on MNCH?

[Jim Abbott, Conservative, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

No, no: on maternal, newborn, and child health.

[Françoise Ducros]

I think it would be premature for me to give you that information. Currently what's happening is that the various donors are staking out what can be done across the country. We can approach it two ways. We could approach it either by addressing it geographically and picking an area, or systemically by dealing with the training of professionals or institutions.

I think it's fair to say that we have to consult and do the proper analysis, both on what we can achieve and do and also on where we fill the gaps with regard to what other donors are doing.

[Jim Abbott, Conservative, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Is this a work in progress? What I'm trying to drive at is that, with the government's initiative on this issue, there is more focus. Are we ramping up fairly rapidly or is this a continuation of something that has been occurring?

[Françoise Ducros]

Oh, no, we've announced that we would be providing.... It is a ramp-up quickly over the next five years, from 2010 to 2015, so we would be programming fairly quickly. It always takes some time to develop that programming, but we would be providing $45 million on that issue over the next three years--or yes, $15 million a year over the next five--

[Jim Abbott, Conservative, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Mr. Chair, may I...?

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

Very briefly.

[Jim Abbott, Conservative, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Yes.

I apologize. I'm not trying to put you on the spot. I'm trying to quantify. I'm trying to understand $45 million and what that means in the giant picture. In other words, how much impact does $45 million have—1%, 10%, or 50%—on the issue?

[Françoise Ducros]

I can honestly say that I don't think I have that information to give you right now. It could be 1% of addressing all the nutritional needs or 1% of addressing the obstetric needs. That analysis really has to be done.

[Jim Abbott, Conservative, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Thank you.

[Françoise Ducros]

I can tell you, though, Mr. Chair, that the minister was in Afghanistan in May and had a round table with experts in the field. There is certainly a view that Canada has a leadership role to play in that area, because it has provided great leadership on the coordination of education programming. We're looking to play a leadership role in the field.

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

Thank you.

Mr. Bachand, please.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

My questions will be for Admiral Davidson.

Admiral, do you feel the war in Afghanistan is intensifying?

[RAdm Robert Davidson]

As I said previously, there's no doubt that there's been an increase in the level of violence because of the surge that has caused us to find ourselves with troops, both Afghan and ISAF troops, in much larger areas across the country.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Do you trust the NATO fact sheets? Among other things, they show that, of the number of incidents caused by insurgents, such as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Haqqani network, with which you're all familiar, 523 attacks occurred from 2009 to 2010 and that there have already been 1,319 attacks in 2010?

Do you attribute that solely to an increase in U.S. armed forces, which, consequently, would double the attacks?

[RAdm Robert Davidson]

It's not just because of the growth in the U.S. forces; it's also as a result of the growth in Afghan forces. While those statistics don't break it down, a lot of those initiated incidents by insurgents are actually IEDs.There are IEDs spread out across the country, so the more roads you patrol and the more ground you cover with foot patrols, the more you're going to encounter IEDs.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

In April 2009, there were approximately 350 IED attacks. In 2010, one year later, there have been more than 1,000. That's not just due to the presence of the Afghan and NATO forces. It's also because the Taliban are better organized, which intensifies the conflicts.

[RAdm Robert Davidson]

It's true that they've focused on IEDs, but

I think it's important to note that the reason they're doing it--putting more emphasis on it--is that they can't fight in the field against the number of forces that are there. If you look back to 2006, Canada went into Kandahar province in 2006. We went in there with a single battle group, and we were therefore representing the bulk of the forces that were in Kandahar province at the time. We encountered Operation Medusa. At that particular time. the insurgents were starting to mass. They had the strength of numbers. There had not been a significant NATO presence in the area or, indeed, an Afghan government presence in the area, so they started to mass.

When we went across that wadi to attack them, when the Canadian army did that crossing, they went with 40 personnel--one platoon's worth--of the Afghan National Army. Today there are thousands of Afghan National Army personnel standing shoulder to shoulder with us and getting out there. Because of that, because of the surge, the insurgents are no longer able to stand and fight, so yes, IEDs are a weapon of choice. Ambush is a weapon of choice. They don't stand and fight. But these are all individual incidents. If you compared the incidents and the complexity of them to before, that would be a factor as well.

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

Thank you very much.

Unfortunately, our time is up.

I'd like to thank Admiral Davidson, Ms. Sinclair, Mr. Venner, Ms. Bossenmaier, and Ms. Ducros for appearing here. You've given us very valuable information and we thank you as a committee.

This meeting stands adjourned.