Madam Speaker, before I start, let me be very clear in regard to what the member has been saying. We have been doing that. Investigations have been done by the Military Police Complaints Commission and by other authorities.
The opposition has already made up its mind that there should be some minefield over there, that there should be some kind of torture, and they are going on a fishing expedition to try to find it, irrespective of the fact that we have had witnesses appear before the special committee on Afghanistan, of which I am a member, and the hon. member opposite sits on that committee as well.
The generals, the people in charge, the people who are looking after the whole process, have laid out in clear terms and have outlined exactly what they have been doing, how they have been monitoring, working with the Afghan authorities, and working with the Red Cross, working with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission to do exactly what is required under international law.
First of all, let me remind my colleague that Taliban prisoners are detained by Canadian Forces and then turned over to Afghanistan because they have attacked or killed soldiers, or they are going to do harm to the soldiers. These are the detainees who have been captured in that theatre of war, and are now being transferred by the Canadian Forces to the Afghan authorities.
The witnesses who came before the committee have been absolutely clear about the process. When the 2005 agreement was not adequate enough, we went into a further agreement in 2007 to ensure, and I want to repeat this to the member, that there was monitoring. They have been monitoring all these things.
The member has asked a question about what we have done and how many visits we have made to the prisons since May 2007. I can say that Canadian officials have conducted nearly 200 visits to Afghan detention facilities in Kandahar and Kabul.
Yesterday when we were in the committee, we heard from the corrections officer about how many times she has gone over there and witnessed. But the fact remains that everyone has said they have not seen evidence of torture.
Yes, claims of torture have been made. That is what the opposition is trying to find from the claims of torture, but there has been absolutely no evidence. That is what all of the officers have said, including those who have gone to the prisons and monitored them.
I find it very strange that somebody in this Parliament, away from the theatre of Afghanistan, can sit here and say there was torture there. They do not want to listen to the people on the ground who have gone there to see and verify that there has been no torture, I am going to repeat this, to the detainees transferred by Canadians.
We are not talking about the overall aspect of others who are out there. For the other aspect, that is where Canada's assistance comes into play by helping the Afghans respect international human rights conventions.