FAAE Committee Report

Canada’s continuing multi-faceted engagement in Afghanistan represents both a major opportunity and an ongoing challenge for Canadian leadership in world affairs. That is the overriding thrust of our Committee’s Report Canada in Afghanistan containing 35 recommendations to the Government of Canada, notably in the crucial inter-linked areas of security, development and governance.

It has been almost two years since we began our study of Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan since 2001. In October 2006, Chief of the Defence Staff General Rick Hillier accompanied the then Minister of National Defence as our first witnesses on the situation in Afghanistan. Fittingly, in April 2008, several months before his retirement, General Hillier was also our last witness.

Our Committee’s study looked at the totality of Canada’s role in Afghanistan, including the many non-military aspects. Sustainable development and achieving a lasting peace were the subjects highlighted in our January 2008 Preliminary Report. In this main report, our perspective on the important contribution being made by the Canadian Forces’ mission in Afghanistan is integrated into an overall picture of the security objectives required for Afghanistan’s long-term stability. We recognize as well that Canada’s efforts must be coherent with the priorities agreed to by the Government of Afghanistan and the international community.

The Committee’s report is based on the testimony of many expert witnesses and pertinent supplementary analyses. We have also taken into account the January 2008 Report of the Independent Panel on Canada’s Future Role in Afghanistan and, most importantly, the March 13, 2008 motion passed by the House of Commons (see Appendix I).

In addition we have taken in consideration the London Afghanistan Compact of early 2006 (see Appendix II), the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s new Afghanistan National Development Strategy (2008-2013), the Government of Canada’s first quarterly report to Parliament of June 10, 2008, Canada’s Engagement in Afghanistan: Setting a Course for 2011, and the outcome of the  June 12, 2008 Paris International Conference in Support of Afghanistan (see Appendix III).

The Committee has strived to be as frank and as forward-looking as possible because we believe that the Canadian public needs to have confidence that Canada is making its best effort in Afghanistan in support of internationally-agreed goals that are in the long-term Canadian and global interest.

As Chair, I want to express my thanks to my Committee colleagues from all parties for working in a collaborative spirit on this report throughout a long and sometimes difficult process. This report demonstrates what elected Members of Parliament can achieve on complicated contentious issues. Whatever our disagreements, all of us are motivated by serving the Canadian public interest.

I also want to thank the Committee’s excellent and consistently reliable staff for their tireless work over many months, especially our Clerk Angela Crandall, lead researcher Dr. Gerald Schmitz and his colleagues James Lee and Dr. Natalie Mychajlyszyn from the Parliamentary Information and Research Service of the Library of Parliament. In addition, the Committee is grateful to all of the support staff, interpreters, publications personnel, translators, and others who have assisted during the course of this study and in the production of this report.

To my fellow Canadians, taking into account the situation as of June 2008, the Committee calls on the Government of Canada to continue strengthening Canada’s contribution to improving conditions for the Afghan people. In light of that, and as matters evolve, I urge you to continue to take an interest and to ask questions about what is Canada’s largest and most complex international engagement since the war in Korea over a half century ago.

The future of Afghanistan is one of global and regional concern affecting our national interest on the ground every day. We all have a responsibility to see that Canada puts its best foot forward on what the Committee recognizes will be a long and sometimes rocky road ahead.