Afghanistan committee  I have all kinds of personal thoughts and processes about what occurred, how it occurred, and how effective it was. But I prefer to wait until we get an opportunity to walk through the analysis with the Afghan security officials themselves, with the Ministry of Justice particularly, just to make sure we can learn as much as we can without my speculating on what might have occurred.

Afghanistan committee  Mr. Chairman, no. To my knowledge—and my knowledge is perhaps not complete, but I'm pretty certain it is in this case—we are not working with any contractors for Sarposa prison, for example, who are working to provide security to that prison. It is the Ministry of Justice and Afghan national security forces who do that job and have responsibility for it.

Afghanistan committee  I think there are two separate components here, Mr. Dewar. First of all, of course, as you are aware, before the NATO mission assumed responsibility for region command in south Kandahar province in August 2006, it was Operation Enduring Freedom, which was the American-run mission.

Afghanistan committee  Mr. Chairman and Mr. Bachand, thank you. Merci beaucoup de la question. First of all, it was a significant attack, but I'm not sure that 50 fighters were involved in it. I would wait until we get the details for what the exact number was. But yes, I don't deny that it was a significantly large attack, and it did achieve surprise and obviously achieved their objective.

Afghanistan committee  It is.

Afghanistan committee  It's July 2, sir.

Afghanistan committee  First of all, madame, I don't think we will see repeated events like that, because the Afghans, and in this case the Ministry of Justice, which had responsibility for that prison and the security of it, are learning some very painful lessons and have already learned some very painful lessons.

Afghanistan committee  Sir, thank you for the question. Mr. Chair, what I would say is this: I would take anything the Taliban say with an enormous grain of salt. As I have said to you, they are unconstrained by the law of war, they're unconstrained by the Geneva Convention, and they certainly are unconstrained by the truth.

Afghanistan committee  Thank you for the question, sir. First of all, in any counter-insurgency campaign where there's a rudimentary infrastructure—that is to say, in terms of telephone communications and Internet-based communications—and a large number of people such as the huge number who live in southern Afghanistan, it is incredibly difficult to know what is occurring in many of the little villages and towns and the locations of valleys around Kandahar itself.

Afghanistan committee  Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased to be able to speak to you today. This is my last opportunity to do so. As Chief of the Defence Staff, the Canadian mission in Afghanistan is one of my main responsibilities. Over the past few years, not a single day has gone by—and that is the truth—without my thinking about various issues related to that mission.

National Defence committee  Sir, I'd like to say two things, if I could. Please bear with me, if you don't mind. One, after I retire on July 2, I'm going to have another career; I'm going to find something else to do. I want to contribute to our great country in some way, shape, or form. What I'm not going to do is perhaps most clear: I'm not going to become a political leader.

National Defence committee  Mr. Chair and sir, a whole variety of measures, many of which I've spoken to here. We've increased the number of medical specialists and the specialists we need in Petawawa. We've increased them in Gagetown, and we're going to increase them even more, despite all the massive challenges of being able to attract people to go there, civilians and/or military, truthfully.

National Defence committee  I think it could be part of a solution, sir. One, if they're travelling to get treatment for something, an injury that they've sustained while they've been with us, then they're not going to be picking up the bill for that themselves. We're going to make sure we do it. Two, part of the treatment is that we have to get them to where the expertise is at times or the capacity to treat.

National Defence committee  Sir, I reconfirmed my commander's intention and guidance this morning to General Gauthier, the commander in Afghanistan, the Vice-Chief of Defence Staff, and the deputy commander of CEFCOM, who are the last two guys who were in the room with me. And General Gauthier and the commander in Afghanistan were on the video teleconference with me and confirmed exactly the words I used to you.

National Defence committee  All right.