Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, gentlemen, for being before the committee today. I want to say at the outset that I was extremely impressed, when I had the brief opportunity to visit Kandahar and Kabul, with the professionalism, the competence, and the courage of our troops there, as well as by the people I met in Kabul who were doing important strategic task force work.
Having said that, I have a lot of concerns. My time is very brief, so very quickly, before I go to the question of the really shocking and worrisome reports of children starving literally within a few miles of the Kandahar base, and trying to reconcile that with your claim, Mr. Minister, that humanitarian aid and reconstruction are at the core of this mission in Kandahar, I want to go to another point.
I'd like to give you the opportunity, I guess for the benefit of the committee, to clear up some confusion created by your testimony last week before the defence committee. There you were perhaps unable to remember, but I'd like to bring to your attention and ask you to comment on some briefing notes supplied to you--I'm sure they're voluminous--signed by General Hillier, to the effect that they're in fact an addition to the obvious capacity being deployed in Afghanistan.
I'm now quoting directly from those briefing notes: “The second task force that includes approximately 1,200 personnel and forms the basis for contingency planning for other possible missions the Government may wish to consider.” Before the defence committee, Mr. Minister, you indicated that you were simply not aware of that. I believe you indicated, General Hillier, that no such troops in fact existed. I wonder if you could reconcile the contradiction here.