Mr. Bachand, I'm sorry—
Evidence of meeting #4 for National Defence in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was mission.
Evidence of meeting #4 for National Defence in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was mission.
4:10 p.m.
Bloc
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
4:10 p.m.
NDP
Dawn Black NDP New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC
Welcome to our committee, Minister. It's a pleasure to have you here.
I have some of the same questions as Mr. Bachand has been asking, and I'd like to follow up on that.
Exactly what will be the substantive change on the ground when we move out of Operation Enduring Freedom and into the ISAF-NATO command?
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Peter MacKay Conservative Central Nova, NS
The ISAF-NATO command, as I understand it, will essentially signal a shift away from the American-led Operation Enduring Freedom into the broader mission, which includes the United Nations countries, the 30-plus countries that make up that UN mission.
There will also be, simultaneous to that, a change in the command, as you're aware, that will go to the Dutch and then eventually the British, and there is a rotation that takes place. I'm not going to pretend to know the exact timeframe, but I believe this commences in early August.
4:15 p.m.
NDP
Dawn Black NDP New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC
But what will the change on the ground be in terms of the mission itself? From the Operation Enduring Freedom counter-insurgency mission to the ISAF-NATO mission, what will the difference be on the ground?
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Peter MacKay Conservative Central Nova, NS
There'll be a continuation of efforts to eradicate the presence of the Taliban and the attacks that have been carried out in the region around Kandahar. There will be efforts, obviously, in conjunction with the member countries of that operation, to continue to secure presence on the ground. As that security develops, there will be further efforts to do more for the Afghan people, to continue to try to secure the capacity of NGOs and our provincial reconstruction team and aid workers to do more for the people.
That includes the types of concrete action you would be aware of as somebody familiar with humanitarian efforts abroad: building schools, hospitals, sanitation; basic education for children there; basic infrastructure building, including roads and including assisting the people of Afghanistan to build an economy themselves, so they can bring goods and services into the larger communities. As you know, Afghanistan is a massive country spread out over very rough terrain that doesn't allow for basic transportation of individuals, let alone goods in many areas.
4:15 p.m.
NDP
Dawn Black NDP New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC
But these are all the goals you indicated we would be doing under Operation Enduring Freedom. What I'm trying to get at is, what will the changes be in the mission under NATO and ISAF?
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Peter MacKay Conservative Central Nova, NS
They'll be a continuation of efforts to meet the Afghanistan Compact and the 40 goals and measurable progress being observed there.
This is not like a light switch when it changes from one mission to another. This is something that will involve, obviously, a change in individuals. Because of the increased number of Dutch and English soldiers there, it will involve a change in the capacity and perhaps the philosophy that those countries might bring to the mission. But it will all be continuing under a joint international operation of which Canada is a part.
4:15 p.m.
NDP
Dawn Black NDP New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC
What has been the cost of Canada's military presence in Afghanistan since 2001? Do you have that?
4:15 p.m.
NDP
Dawn Black NDP New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC
Further to that, what would the cost be for the deployment until 2009?
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Peter MacKay Conservative Central Nova, NS
Total expenditures on Canada's multi-faceted engagement in Afghanistan to date amount to approximately $2.3 billion. The DND portion of that is $1.8 billion, and that is an incremental cost of Canadian Forces's operations in or related to the Afghanistan mission itself. So that doesn't include the normal training that would go on in the Canadian Forces, which I think is what has skewed some of the other figures we've seen from various reports. So that $1.8 billion, Ms. Black, is about 69% of the overall cost of Canada's contribution.
Your other question was the...?
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Peter MacKay Conservative Central Nova, NS
The extension through 2009 is budgeted at $1.25 billion. That is spending with respect to the additional two years. For your interest as well, the CIDA contribution to development activities in Afghanistan is $466 million from 2001 to 2006 inclusive.
From the DFAIT perspective, which is dealing more with the diplomacy but also includes the construction or, if I can describe it, the rehabilitation of the building in which the embassy is currently situated--those efforts, over the initial five-year period, total $29 million.
4:15 p.m.
NDP
Dawn Black NDP New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC
Could you tell us what our government has been able to do diplomatically to ensure that Pakistan is doing as much as possible to seal its own border and to prevent recruiting Taliban insurgents?
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Peter MacKay Conservative Central Nova, NS
That's a very relevant question, and one that I think is posed repeatedly by President Karzai to all the interlocutors involved in Afghanistan. There have been numerous discussions, including a face-to-face meeting that our Prime Minister had with President Musharraf wherein it was expressed that Canada and other countries, including Afghanistan, had great concerns that Pakistan perhaps unwillingly was allowing this transit to go back and forth across the border, particularly in the south.
As you know, there's a mountainous region there--you're probably familiar with the terrain--that is very difficult not only to patrol, but more so to control, because of the very physically demanding nature of the terrain. The greater focus has been, of course, inside Afghanistan. But allowing for the training and the perpetration of further efforts by the Taliban inside Pakistan has been, if I could describe it this way, a shortcoming of the overall effort. The difficulty, as you can appreciate, is that it requires greater cooperation from Pakistan and its government.
4:20 p.m.
NDP
Dawn Black NDP New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC
Is Canada pursuing that diplomatically? Are we continuing to pursue that?
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
