National Defence Committee on Nov. 8th, 2006

[LGen J.C.M. Gauthier]

I think every commander wants to put his stamp on a particular endeavour, whether it is in Afghanistan or training in Canada, or wherever it might be. I would not want to take that away from the individual. It is just as General Fraser did when he came in and put his personal stamp on the approach, but whether it is General Fraser or General Van Loon, they are working to a commander, COMISAF. He is working to a superior commander also. I've not seen an indication at the NATO level of an intent to change the approach in a substantive way. There's a concept, an Afghan development zone concept; it is on the books and is being prosecuted. The devil is in the details, I suppose, but I wouldn't expect a major shift.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

The change would be in leadership style, rather than in tactics and strategy.

[LGen J.C.M. Gauthier]

It may even be tactics. Tactics may change from day to day and week to week at various levels, but the basic concept of operations and of the campaign is guided by the ISAF level in Kabul, and there is no indication that I'm aware of that it will change in an appreciable way, unless circumstances dictate that it should.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

That leads me to another question, and it may take a little bit longer.

Strategy, obviously, is at the national level or theatre level. We're talking about tactics, and tactics can change, as you say, because of different circumstances. What kind of thing would drive a change in tactics in southern Afghanistan, and how would you manage that as a commander of CEFCOM in terms of NDHQ's and your input, ISAF's input, and the battle group's input?

[LGen J.C.M. Gauthier]

That's a complex question, because it goes to the relationship between individual nations in this partnership with ISAF and the role of national commanders in relation to the broader effort.

The best answer I can provide is that it is absolutely cooperative.

You almost asked two questions. One is to do with ISAF and where it might go in the near term, and the other is on how we might shape things from our perspective nationally.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

It's really just who—

[LGen J.C.M. Gauthier]

I suppose the point is that the two really go hand in hand.

We have a national commander, General Tim Grant, who has the responsibility to manage the campaign and command operations in theatre. He is under the operational control of a NATO commander, and from a national perspective, there is a three-D effort, which has to be complementary to the NATO approach to operations.

It's my job and General Grant's job to make sure that those efforts are complementary and that they match the requirements, as dictated by the situation on the ground. We do that regularly, on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

We probably don't have a whole lot of time, but I have one quick question related to tanks.

They haven't been there that long, and I think we have only five or six on the ground. Has there been any feedback on the experience so far, with respect to their utility, and so on?

[LGen J.C.M. Gauthier]

I don't want to get into a lot of detail. I'm not going to tell the committee exactly how we plan to employ the tanks, because that would be telling many others how we plan to employ the tanks.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Are we doing with them what we intended to do, and are we happy with it?

[LGen J.C.M. Gauthier]

We've not used them yet. They weren't intended to reach final or full operating capability until just about now, so in the coming days....

We have used the armoured engineer vehicles. I saw them in action over there. There was a well-protected bulldozer doing reconstruction work.

The tanks are just about all there, and I have no doubt they will be used in the coming weeks and months.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Very good. Thank you.

Right on cue, Mr. Bachand.

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

First, I'd like to apologize to my NDP colleague. I didn't understand what was being suggested. I thought you were giving him the go ahead to speak. That would have cut into our time, and I was afraid I wouldn't get the chance to speak.

So I'd like to say something now quickly and, with the committee's consent, I'll give whatever time I have left to my NDP colleague.

Do I need to seek unanimous consent?

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Yes, you would.

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

Therefore, I am asking for unanimous consent so that I can give my colleague my remaining time.

[Dawn Black, NDP, New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC]

I just have one question.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Okay. Do you have consent to do that?

[Dawn Black, NDP, New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC]

It's one question. I appreciate—

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

You're a gentleman, Mr. Bachand, a gentleman.

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

I know I am.

[Dawn Black, NDP, New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC]

I appreciate the opportunity to question, and I'll be very brief, so that I don't take more of your time than necessary.

Listening to the discussion and the presentation you made today, there's this nagging thing at the back of my head, and I just have to get it out. That is the whole issue of the border with Pakistan and the information, which we were given, that members of the Taliban are living and organizing in Pakistan and then coming across the border in some ways like an invading force. They're not all insurgents from within Afghanistan.

In terms of ever ending this, if we don't get cooperation from Pakistan, if they're not able to secure that border, can we actually achieve what we're stating we want to achieve?

[LGen J.C.M. Gauthier]

I think the committee has a reasonable understanding of the extent of the challenge there. It's been explained by others, so I won't reiterate it. It is a challenge and a concern for us there.

From our perspective, the short answer to your question is that Pakistan must be part of the solution. We are cooperating with Pakistan, the Government of Canada is cooperating with Pakistan, NATO is cooperating with Pakistan, and others are cooperating with Pakistan. They—

[Dawn Black, NDP, New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC]

Are they cooperating with us?

[LGen J.C.M. Gauthier]

We're cooperating with each other. They have their challenges also, but they need to be part of the solution. If they aren't part of the solution, then we will have a huge challenge, so we need to continue to work with them, and that's what we're doing.

[Dawn Black, NDP, New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you again.