Afghanistan committee  I'm not certain that there are any other ways we could potentially try to reform the NDS that haven't already been attempted. Given its track record over the past three years, in my specific experience, and from what I've learned from some of our allies, the prospects of the NDS being significantly reformed in one way or another is probably very slim.

Afghanistan committee  I think the NDS can be a good partner for us in terms of generic intelligence gathering and the role it plays as an intelligence agency. What I am concerned about--and I shared this with the committee today--is when that intelligence gathering oversteps its bounds into a realm where it is breaching its obligations under international standards.

Afghanistan committee  I don’t think it helps our cause to be so closely associated with the NDS in a very overt fashion because of the specific reputation it has among the population for its behaviour. One of the challenges we had at the PRT was when we would meet with Afghans, they would give us specific points about what they were concerned about or what their major issues were, and more often than not they were related to situations like this.

Afghanistan committee  Sorry, but I'm not sure I understand the question.

Afghanistan committee  I didn't have to. We have had these conversations in large groups all across the board in Kandahar and in Ottawa. The behaviour of the NDS, when it comes to how they react to certain pressures placed upon them by tribal elders or people of influence throughout Kandahar, has been common knowledge among senior officials, civilian and military.

Afghanistan committee  I think it's never too late to investigate those possibilities. As I said in my earlier testimony, in hindsight I wish we would have pursued those other two tracks a little bit more vociferously, the ISAF facility and potentially another Afghan agency, such as the ANA.

Afghanistan committee  It is reasonable, because the Afghan constitution is based on those very principles themselves, and the officials I was involved with at the NDS were as aware of the Geneva protocols and other international human rights legislation as we were. It's not through a lack of knowledge or understanding.

Afghanistan committee  Oh, sure.

Afghanistan committee  Yes. To say the government went in a drastically different direction is a bit of an overstatement, because there's such a large bureaucracy in operation. I have certainly offered advice and have seen colleagues of mine feed different ideas and initiatives up the chain of our command to greater or lesser success, depending on the issue.

Afghanistan committee  I fail to see the connection between all of those blocks. But at the same time, if we have an open and honest debate about this issue in particular, we should be able to learn certain principles, behaviour, and practices that we could then employ on further international engagements we're going to find ourselves in down the road.

Afghanistan committee  No, it's not.

Afghanistan committee  I did not see an improvement in NDS behaviour throughout my time there. I have seen it at Sarposa Prison.

Afghanistan committee  I would take your word for that, sure.

Afghanistan committee  Yes.

Afghanistan committee  That's correct.