Afghanistan committee

As Rear Admiral P.A. Maddison explained yesterday, there was apparently belief among Canadian Forces that violence was a “cultural norm” among Afghan authorities, but there was no “observation” or “expectation” that detainees were being abused.

Two weeks ago, Gen. Walter Natynczyk wrote to the Afghanistan committee in response to the testimony of Malgarai Ahmadshah. In that letter, he stated that “Canadian Forces do not transfer individuals for the purposes of gathering information.” This caught the interest of the NDP’s Paul Dewar and Jack Harris, who wrote Natynczyk seeking an explanation as to how this could be squared with an October 2007 transfer report.

A former diplomat told the Afghanistan committee this week that the first officials heard of specific allegations of torture was when the Globe and Mail reported as much in April 2007.

While most everyone was paying attention to other matters across the hall, our former ambassador in Kabul appeared in Centre Block’s other grand committee room yesterday afternoon and neatly summed up Canada’s position on torture in Afghanistan.

Gen. Walter Natynczyk has written to the special committee on Afghanistan to outline the military’s account of one of the events referenced last week by Malgarai Ahmadshah.

Gen. Walter Natynczyk’s statement on yesterday’s testimony at the special committee on Afghanistan.

A former translator has just concluded rather dramatic testimony at the special committee on Afghanistan.

The issue of Governor Asadullah Khalid was raised three times during Afghanistan committee hearings last year. Specifically, the matter was pursued with Richard Colvin, Major-General David Fraser, the commander of Task Force Afghanistan for most of 2006, and ambassador David Mulroney, the former associate deputy minister for foreign affairs.

A Foreign Affairs official directs blame at the military leadership.

Afghan committee hearings will apparently resume, unofficially, next month.

The Canadian Press, Sun, Star, CBC and Canwest report from today’s unofficial meeting of the Afghanistan committee. In photos, the Sun documents the exit of a cameraman apparently sent by the Conservative side to observe the proceedings on behalf of those government MPs who couldn’t be there.

Four years ago tomorrow, Stephen Harper made a campaign stop in Winnipeg, where he outlined his party’s vision for arctic sovereignty. The next day he had a photo op at a Toys R Us in Calgary. He then took three days off for Christmas, before resuming his campaign on Dec. 27.