National Defence committee  In terms of my experience in Srebrenica and how it relates to Afghanistan, first, I don't have experience yet in Afghanistan. Hopefully, I'll be deploying this summer. But in comparing the two, I'll go back to the whole-of-government approach, or the COIN manual mentioned by your

National Defence committee  In terms of the border flag meetings, I believe we've had about three in the past 12 months. These are extremely important. They happen in the Spin Buldak area. They normally include the commander of JTFA and the RoCK, and the Afghan commander and the Pakistani commander. And the

National Defence committee  I wouldn't try to comment on that.

National Defence committee  First of all, I'd like to clarify that the term “surge” was probably one that they used in Iraq, but it is not a term they use in Afghanistan. It is not a surge in Afghanistan. They're coming in to help in large numbers, and they know they're going to be there for the long run. T

National Defence committee  Merci, monsieur. In terms of exactly what they want to do, they're still discussing it. The commander of CENTCOM, who is responsible for that theatre of operations, is still going through his assessment. Once he's finished with his assessment, it will obviously go through his ow

National Defence committee  I'll be cautious on this one, if you don't mind. What we have is a brigade a quarter and three kandaks. Each of those kandaks is about 650 strong. But again, the strength goes up and down. I will not tell you the exact number of each of those kandaks. That would be within the re

National Defence committee  As I explained to you, a lot of them are back up to 70%. This is a snapshot in time. The recruiting and the reinforcements are coming in, and even today some of those units that might have shown at 60% are now at 70%.

National Defence committee  For us, it is a level of effectiveness that we're looking for in a battalion.

National Defence committee  I'll try to categorize this according to your three questions, and if I don't answer all of your points, please remind me. In terms of our counter-IED effort, as I explained, we have a wide spectrum of capabilities. We have a counter-IED team here in Canada, which keeps going ba

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Harris. If you don't mind, I'll tackle the army issue, because this is the one we're responsible for. The police issue is more for DFAIT and the RCMP, and I think they can speak to that. In terms of the Afghan National Army, it's important to understand that....

National Defence committee  Mr. Bachand, we agree with one another to a certain extent. During my presentation, I did not use the word “win” nor the words “total control of the situation”. I said that the situation, as it is described this year, remains difficult and that additional efforts are needed. I sa

National Defence committee  With your permission, I will not speak about corruption, it is not my field. The SAT that you mentioned was replaced by an organization called the GSO, whose full name I forget. It is an organization run by CIDA, the Canadian International Development Agency, that is in charge of

National Defence committee  Let me remind you that General Hillier and General Natynczyk, the two chiefs of staff that we had, had only praise for that group. When they communicate with representatives of the Afghani government—even now as we are visiting—they remind us that this team has some tremendous ac

National Defence committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Coderre.

National Defence committee  You will understand, Mr. Coderre, that when these insurgents escaped, they did not necessarily all remain in Kandahar.