Reports that Canadian officials have lost track of some Taliban insurgents handed over to Afghan authorities are "demoralizing" to Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan, Defence Minister Peter MacKay acknowledged on Monday.
Speaking in Halifax where he was making a funding announcement, MacKay said reports that Afghan authorities have not informed Canadian officials about the fate of an unknown number of prisoners underlines the need to keep assisting the Afghan government as it makes improvements to its justice system.
MacKay was responding to questions about a report in the Globe and Mail that says a number of Taliban insurgents captured by Canadians and handed over to Afghanistan's secret police are unaccounted for -- a violation of the detainee transfer agreement between the two countries.
The report quotes Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon as saying that Afghan officials have not kept Canada informed of every detainee's fate.
"The May, 2007, arrangement states that the government of Canada will be notified prior to the release of a Canadian-transferred detainee by Afghan authorities. However, notification has been a challenge," Mr. Cannon said last week in a written answer to questions from a Parliamentary committee investigating the issue of detainee abuse.
The revelation is shocking, given that the Conservative government has for weeks been hailing the 2007 prisoner transfer agreement as a vast improvement over previous pacts.
It requires Afghanistan to notify Canada before it releases or transfers any detainee, or puts a detainee on trial.
MacKay acknowledged that it is "inevitably demoralizing" for soldiers to learn that insurgents, who may have planted explosive devices with the intention of harming coalition troops or attacking civilians, have been released.
Cannon's comments come as Ottawa grapples with the issue of whether prisoners Canadian troops handed over to Afghan authorities were tortured while in the hands of Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS), and whether Canadian officials knew about it.
Senior diplomat Richard Colvin, who was once Canada's No. 2 official in Afghanistan, told the Commons committee last month that he warned the government in 2006 and 2007 about detainee abuse, but was ignored and told to edit his reports from the field.
In a 2007 report, Colvin alleged Canadian officials defended former Afghan governor Asadullah Khalid, despite allegations of torture levelled against him by detainees.
The report says Khalid could have been removed from power in 2006 if Canadian officials had not been vouching for him.
CTV's South Asia Bureau Chief, Janis Mackey Frayer said prisoners testified that they were tortured by Khalid, with the help of the NDS, in the basement of the governor's home.
"Diplomatic memos are alleging that Canadian officials knew this sort of thing was happening and did nothing to have the governor removed," Mackey Frayer told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel in a telephone interview.
"What sources are saying today is that Canadian officials may have felt like they had their hands tied because governor positions are the responsibility of the president, Hamid Karzai, and if there was any delay in having Khalid removed that it was because of Karzai's position."
MacKay said Monday he has not read Colvin's report, but denied its contents, saying Canadian officials raised concerns about Khalid's behaviour with the Afghan government.
MacKay also pointed out that Afghanistan is a sovereign country and the president is responsible for appointing governors.
With files from The Canadian Press
