By the time I arrived in Afghanistan in early August 2007, a great deal of work had been done by many people—you will have heard from some of them in this committee—to ensure that the approach by the different arms of the Canadian government was increasingly integrated and they were working towards one goal. Over the 24 months that I spent in Afghanistan, there is no doubt that the process deepened further.
We had the independent commission on Afghanistan, led by John Manley, which made recommendations, of course, to the government and Parliament. That took it to a much more integrated level still; it really covered all aspects of Canada's engagement. It was vital on the matter of detainees, where we were completely aligned and ensuring that our respective roles and responsibilities that we had identified were implemented quickly and effectively.
But it's also true that all aspects of our engagement involved an integrated approach, where our government policy was clear in terms of why we were there and what we were trying to achieve. All arms of the Government of Canada were working towards those same goals.
It's one of the reasons why, when I left Afghanistan, I said publicly on many occasions that Canadians have much to be proud of. I think we performed in an integrated way, and by the time I left, probably better than any other nation of the 60 that were involved in Afghanistan.