It will also support the Civilian Operation Commander with military expertise during the planning and conduct of EUCAP NESTOR.

The Operations Centre will inter alia provide direct support to the Civilian Operations Commander for the operational planning and conduct of the RMCB mission; provide support to the EUTM mission commander and enhance strategic coordination between the mission and other CSDP actions in the Horn of Africa; strengthen civ-mil synergies; liaise with Operation Atalanta; and facilitate interaction between the mission/operations and the Brussels-based st ...[+++]ructures.

EU Heads of Mission and appropriate EU representatives (Heads of EU Civilian Operations, Commanders of EU Military Operations and EU Special Representatives).

To answer the question directly about civilian losses as a result of bombardments, artillery, or otherwise, I can tell you, as the NATO commander of Task Force Kandahar, with 850 U.S. soldiers under my command, that because of the targeting methodologies we use, there were zero civilian casualties as a result of any operations directed from my headquarters. That's not to say that we tied our people's hands.

Question No. 106 Ms. Dawn Black: With regard to the Canadian presence in Afghanistan: (a) what is the goal of the Canadian presence in Afghanistan; (b) what is the strategy employed by the government; (c) what are the tactics that are being used; (d) who is the enemy; (e) what is the operational centre of gravity of the enemy; (f) does the government have a political strategy to attain its goal; (g) is terrorism the greatest security threat that Canada faces; (h) does the government consider that Canada is at war; (i) what is the condition that the government would consider to be “civil war”; (j) what does the government deem to ...[+++] be the nature of counter-insurgency warfare and does this condition exist in Afghanistan; (k) what Canadian Forces (CF) manuals deal with counter-insurgency; (l) what are the current rules of engagement for the CF in Afghanistan; (m) what has been the change in rules of engagement since Canada left Operation Enduring Freedom; (n) is the government aware of the presence of foreign fighters in Afghanistan who help the Taliban; (o) if there are foreign fighters where do they come from on the whole; (p) what is the opinion of the government regarding the security of the Afghan border with Pakistan; (q) what is the opinion of the government regarding Pakistani cooperation in achieving the objectives of the mission; (r) does the government have an opinion as to when the goals of the Canadian presence will be achieved; (s) when was the decision to deploy a combat mission to Kandahar made by the government; (t) how well are CF capabilities matched to the conditions in the southern region of Afghanistan and to counter insurgency; (u) what is the size and configuration of task forces available for use in Afghanistan through to February 2009; (v) what has been the effect of increased training throughout the forces on the capability of these task forces; (w) how has the training of new recruits been effected by the extension of the ...

You have commented on the importance of unity of command in the civilian component, and we have seen an evolution of that from the military being in there and provincial reconstruction and saying we need some civilian, to a 3D strategy, to a whole-of-government approach.