Afghanistan committee  Soldiers would play no role in tracking. That is my answer to the question, Mr. Dewar.

Afghanistan committee  Certainly. That's for sure, and thanks for that clarification. Tracking up to the point of transfer was absolutely our responsibility. There may have been issues with the detail of the specific information that was being kept and who it was provided to, and so on. General Fraser referred to that.

Afghanistan committee  —of how complex this was, information going from one place to the next. I have to say, what was described was not close to the way the process actually worked. That's my first comment. Secondly, Mr. Colvin, in his testimony, made reference to this being a military process. I'm surprised he didn't understand that these were human rights issues.

Afghanistan committee  I couldn't personally, but you can get them from the government.

Afghanistan committee  Of course we would.

Afghanistan committee  I wouldn't know how many what?

Afghanistan committee  Absolutely, in great detail, on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis.

Afghanistan committee  You made reference to tracking. In 2006, tracking detainees after a transfer was an independent human rights agency responsibility, in our policy, signed between us and Afghans. It was up to the Afghan government to treat all detainees in accordance with the Geneva Convention and to allow full access to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and the ICRC.

Afghanistan committee  Exactly right, and I made reference to that in my comments, that our soldiers weren't trained human rights monitors--

Afghanistan committee  We could not do that, but you could ask General Fraser if he's aware of others who went into--

Afghanistan committee  Can I give a longer answer to this, rather than a shorter answer?

Afghanistan committee  I would say, as I said in my opening statement, what I heard from the troops: no indications of torture. And it was certainly the same thing in my meetings with various others. I regularly went to Kabul and elsewhere. The only other point I'd raise here is that over the course of the three and a half years that I was involved in this—and I alluded to this in my opening remarks—from commander to commander to commander, from General Fraser to General Grant to General Laroche, from General Thompson to General Vance to now General Menon, we understand a lot more today than we understood three years ago.

Afghanistan committee  First of all, thank you for your question. You are referring to the original policy of 2005. I was not the commander at the time. That being said, this was not a military policy but a government policy. My suggestion would be that you put your question to the ministers of the day.

Afghanistan committee  We are not referring to military leaders, Mr. Bachand, we are referring to the Afghan military and the chain of command. I talked regularly to soldiers in Afghanistan, once every two months. There is no need for me to repeat what I said in my preliminary statement, obviously. You say that everyone knew.

Afghanistan committee  I do have a statement, yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Obviously I want to thank you for inviting me to provide a perspective on some of the important issues before you. These are serious matters, and I hope, Mr. Chairman, that you will give me just a little bit of leeway with the 10-minute limit, because I might actually go a little bit beyond that, with your permission.