Afghanistan committee  I wouldn't dare do that.

Afghanistan committee  I think one doesn't prevent the other from happening. But “makeover” is the wrong terminology, I would say. The money we've been investing in Kabul has been invested to protect the Canadians who are working there. We have now more than 100 civilians in Afghanistan. Many of them, over 50, are working in Kabul.

Afghanistan committee  I was in the Hague, so the date was March 31, I think, when it came out publicly.

Afghanistan committee  I'm sorry, I missed the last part of your question.

Afghanistan committee  I can only give you a personal answer, I guess: it's a reason for us to work harder and to maintain the effort that we've invested in the country. It is showing progress. I would actually argue that if you look at Afghanistan today, at Kandahar, and compare it to where it was, say, two years ago, you'll see a big difference.

Afghanistan committee  Can I answer the question?

Afghanistan committee  Thank you for the question. It's a very important issue, and one that I think is extremely serious. One thing I'd like to say at the outset is that Canada does not tolerate torture in any way. We actually are acting within international laws and we do provide training to police, and also to the Afghan National Army, to make sure that mistreatment of detainees is not happening.

Afghanistan committee  I think that not working with the government is not the answer. Abandoning the work that we're doing to try to raise the standards would be a grave mistake--

Afghanistan committee  If you would let me answer the question, please....

Afghanistan committee  Thank you very much. Essentially, we have to work with them, and we are working with the Afghan authorities. The law you're talking about is the Shi’a Personal Status Law, which is an outrageous law, and that's been recognized by the President. It perhaps took some time before he made that recognition, but he did.

Afghanistan committee  Very, very briefly, since we're on training and the training centre, there are two things I want to flag. One is that the training centre at the PRT in Kandahar has now been certified by the Afghan Minister of Interior. It's important—and this is also a bit of an answer to the question by Monsieur Bachand—because it speaks to standardization throughout the country.

Afghanistan committee  Yes.

Afghanistan committee  Thank you very much. I don't know how much time I have to answer these questions. In fact, they cover almost everything that we do. For the questions about the curriculum and the decisions concerning the deployment of Canadian police forces, I will turn the floor over to my colleague from the RCMP.

Afghanistan committee  Definitely. A big part of what we do—and this is quite important—is help the Afghans themselves take charge of their destiny, so it's capacity building. The work we do on what we call the rule-of-law package includes all the elements you just mentioned. It's taking place in Kandahar, but it's also taking place at a national level.

Afghanistan committee  He's a minister, a member of cabinet.