Afghanistan committee  Thank you for the question. I think it's a fundamental one. I want to start by saying that the issue of rights was always at the heart of our preoccupation when we went into Afghanistan. It's not the only one, but it's a very important one. It's reflected in the objectives we have adopted.

Afghanistan committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ladies and gentlemen, members of the committee, thank you once again for giving us the opportunity to explain to you what we do in Afghanistan. I will start with a brief opening statement. I'll probably read a little fast because I think it's a little longer than it should be; nevertheless, it's quite important to understand what we've been doing there.

Afghanistan committee  Losses are basically happening in area sectors where there is very little security, where the safety is very low. In most cases, these are attacks by the Taliban and people being shot. I have a few statistics. In 2007-08, they lost 830 police officers in Afghanistan as a whole. There were 1,147 injured.

Afghanistan committee  It's also co-chaired by the Ministry of Interior of Afghanistan. So the Afghans are directly involved in this.

Afghanistan committee  There's also something important in going back to the involvement of the Afghans in this process. For instance, the Minister of Interior is now conducting a study about their needs, how many police officers they need, and all that. Eventually, the result of this will be that they're leading.

Afghanistan committee  Yes.

Afghanistan committee  I know Mr. Atmar as a minister. We are currently working with him as Minister of the Interior. We also worked closely with him when he was Minister of Education. I can tell you that in both cases, we were fortunate enough to be working with someone who is extremely cooperative and receptive, and who has often taken measures that have been extremely unpopular in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan committee  That would be a good idea, and I'm sure he would answer you.

Afghanistan committee  I can't answer? That's too bad. Okay.

Afghanistan committee  I guess what I will let myself say is that Canada is in Afghanistan not to run the country. As you rightly said, we work with the people who are there, who have been mandated—designated or elected—in Afghanistan to make decisions. Frankly, I think the question that was asked before by a previous member of this committee is one that should be asked to President Karzai.

Afghanistan committee  I'll just add one thing. I should point out that the Afghan Ministry of Education is working in tandem with us to provide that course. It's interesting because here you see a connection between one very important aspect at work, which is policing, and another one, which is education.

Afghanistan committee  Well, I'm not too sure exactly where you're going, but let me just say that if you actually don't create the conditions for our experts--colleagues from the RCMP, from CSC, from DFAIT, from CIDA, from GSO--to actually be able to do their job, the bigger part of your investment will be at risk.

Afghanistan committee  Thank you for the question. The literacy issue is important for us with the police forces. I think, again, we're dealing with a fairly difficult situation where very few of the police recruits were literate. At an initiative of the RCMP, a program was put together to provide Afghan National Police with what I would call basic Pashto literacy skills, Pashto being their language.

Afghanistan committee  Thank you. I think the payment of salaries of police officers in the six districts we're engaged in must be seen in the context of measures taken to try to attract recruits of quality, but also to deal with corruption to some extent. We have an issue with retention, because if you look at the salaries ANA members are paid compared to police officers, there's a pretty wide gap.

Afghanistan committee  We get to that point by creating the right conditions in Afghanistan so the government can actually earn enough funds to pay its police officers decently so they can make a living and resist the temptation of corruption. Is it going to happen next week? No. Is it going to happen next year?