National Defence Committee on June 20th, 2006

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

To the extent that it's permissible, please tell us about the Peace through Strength program, which I believe offers the Taliban immunity from prosecution in exchange for cooperation. Can you tell us anything about that?

[MGen Stuart Beare]

That I can't do, because I don't know.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

You're just about out of time, Ms. Gallant.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Mr. McGuire, and then Mr. Hiebert.

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

There's not very much left to ask.

Are you part of the group that's training the new Afghani army to take your place when the allies go?

[MGen Stuart Beare]

We train the soldiers who deploy...and then train the Afghani army. That's correct.

I am not personally involved in the relationship with the Afghani army in Afghanistan.

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

So you're training the officers?

[MGen Stuart Beare]

We're training the officers--the warrant officers and their leaders--who deploy to Kabul, at the national training centre. Through our training system we train the soldiers who are working alongside the Afghan National Army and national police. As of this summer, we will be deploying an observer military liaison team that will live with an Afghani battalion and provide enabling support from the ally forces.

We're interacting with the Afghan National Army at the national training centre, which trains their basic officers and basic soldiers. We are operating alongside the national army and national police. We're embedding Canadian professionals, officers, and NCOs into an Afghani battalion starting this summer and fall, to coach and mentor them as well.

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Are all the allies doing this? Are you all doing the Wainwright model, with each other and with the Afghani army?

[MGen Stuart Beare]

We would be unable to train the Afghanis to our level of sophistication. The training they need is provided to them in Afghanistan. We are actually taking the best practices, vis-à-vis the Wainwright model, of our national allies, in particular the British and the Americans, to do the training. The sophistication, in terms of instrumentation, is the latest of its kind in the world. We are with them, or even beyond them, in some of our capabilities.

In terms of training the Afghan National Army, it's their country, it's their culture, and we're adapting to them.

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Are they helping to train you and the allies?

[MGen Stuart Beare]

They're certainly helping to teach us. I wouldn't say they're helping to train us.

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Well, that's teach.

[MGen Stuart Beare]

Absolutely. Culture, the way you see the space you're working in--it's their country. They can identify good and bad much better than we can.

In terms of actually bringing all the physical and non-physical influencers to them, we do that well.

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Is there an air force being trained in Afghanistan--an Afghani Air Force?

[MGen Stuart Beare]

I would be speculating. I believe the answer is yes, but it's not by us.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

You have some time left, Joe.

[Joe McGuire, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

That's good.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

We'll go to Mr. Hiebert.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Thank you.

Thank you for being here.

My first question has to do with what additional training, over and above the normal training you would be part of, the Afghanistan mission has generated for you at this time.

[MGen Stuart Beare]

It hasn't generated any surprises since we've been engaged. I'd say that 9/11 was a bit of a turning point in our collective consciousness. We've been adapting our training, education, and professional development, really, since the Cold War and when the wall came down. We've seen the world for what it is: intra-state as opposed to inter-state as the norm; complex conflict as opposed to red versus blue, good guy versus bad guy, and those simple scenarios. We've been adapting to that over a number of years.

I'd say that the real load in our training and professional development is in making sure that we, as professional soldiers, understand insurgency. Where does it come from? What motivates it? What enables it? How do you act against it? When I ask how you act against it, I don't mean how we as the military act against it, but how you create an environment that opposes the insurgency, the environment being the one created by local authorities, local police, and others. That's one.

The other one is raising the level of what we expect a soldier to be capable of doing. It is a lot easier for a rifle company commander of 150 soldiers to line them up and advance as a team than it is to send a pair into a building, supported by another pair across the street who are dealing with an angry cop, supported by an intelligence system with a source who is telling you where the bad guy is. The level of complexity has gone up.

What it requires us to do is make sure that our soldiers at all ranks are absolutely competent in their core skills--they bring those with them--can adapt them to the environment within which they're going to operate, and are confident not just in themselves but in their teammates.

This is why, if you look at it as a blank sheet of paper, the training journey would seem to be onerous, but actually it's required. Counter-insurgency has given us a new level of work to focus on and has made us make sure we create the confidence and competence, at the lowest possible level, to operate independently of chains of command in a very complicated environment.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

How much time do I have left?

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

You have two minutes.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

I'll skip to my last question, then.

What are the main resource requirements for the future that you would need to ensure that our land training facilities can be sustained and that the calibre and the level required by our Canadian soldiers continues to dominate the opposition? Basically, what more needs to be invested in your area of expertise so that we can seek higher levels of excellence?