Thank you very much.
Again, welcome to the defence committee.
You mentioned some process that's going through the shuras to recruit Afghan auxiliary police. I know I asked some questions about this when you were here last. There was a report by the Pentagon and the U.S. State Department this last week that found they don't know where about 50% of the police who have been trained there are right now or whom they're with, and they don't know where a lot of the trucks are that I think the Americans bought for the Afghan police, where they've gone, or which side they might be with at this point. I've had some real concerns about the idea of the Afghan auxiliary police only having ten days of training. I think the report from the State Department and the Pentagon exacerbates the concerns I articulated before.
I'm wondering whether our department has looked at that report. Have they incorporated any of the recommendations from the Pentagon? It might be too soon to have done that, but will they? What are your opinions around this whole issue of equipment?
I note on the lists you gave us about the PRTs that more than 12 of them I think are dealing with the Afghan police. I think the concerns I've articulated are legitimate, and they are now backed up by this report from the Pentagon and the State Department in the U.S.