OTTAWA - Innocent Afghans may have inadvertently been labelled as Taliban militants and sent to jail because of mistakes by Canadian military translators, says a former cultural adviser who served in Kandahar.
Military commanders and troops on the ground are routinely at the mercy of their translators, who provide oral and written translations of Dari and Pashto, Afghanistan's two official languages.
Malgarai, an Afghan-Canadian man who spent 13 months with the military, said he personally witnessed at least two incidents where innocent people were condemned because the translator spoke the wrong language -- or couldn't fully understand what was said.
In both cases, he says, he intervened to stop the prisoners from being handed over to the National Directorate of Security, the notorious Afghan intelligence service accused of using torture.
Malgarai asked that only his first name be used to protect his family.
His story is part of a four-month investigation by The Canadian Press that included interviews with former translators, intelligence officers, National Defence officials and Afghan authorities.
"The Canadian military is taking every precaution to avoid mistakes, but the problem is it's not with the military there. It's with the department hiring here because they are sending people that are not qualified," Malgarai, who served under Brig.-Gen. Guy LaRoche in 2007 and 2008.
While overseas, he said, he raised the alarm with officers at the Canadian headquarters, especially about the translation of sensitive documents, but was greeted with polite shrugs and suggestions it was an issue for "the chain of command."
Back home after his tour, he claims to have written a 15-page memo for National Defence, but says his concerns were ignored.
"The reason I'm talking to you, as a Canadian citizen, I don't want to see this great nation put on trial for crimes against humanity," he said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Malgarai is involved in a separate dispute with the federal government over the alleged release of personal information, and said he believes that has made officials more inclined to ignore his warnings.
Afghan community leaders, interviewed by The Canadian Press in Kandahar, supported Malgarai's claims and described sketchy and botched translation as one of the biggest irritants in dealing with both Canadians and Americans.
Haji Ahsan, a provincial council member, spoke about meetings that were halted because Afghans who could speak English would question the interpreter's statements and accuse them of lying.
The former provincial police chief of Kandahar, Syed Aqa Saqib, was routinely furious about misquotes and mangled statements. Afghan intelligence officers have returned documents to Canadian translators, saying they are incomprehensible.
But the most alarming issue is the possibility some people were wrongly imprisoned because of translation problems, especially in light of the unfolding Parliamentary investigation into the handling of Afghan prisoners.
The Conservative government has often been quick to paint all Afghans who end up in Kandahar's notorious Sarpoza prison as militants.
And there are indeed clear-cut cases of Taliban fighters imprisoned after being caught red-handed after firefights or planting bombs.
But in the shadowy world of counter-terrorist and counter-insurgency operations, bystanders are often questioned and some times detained. It is often tough to separate the guilty from the innocent.
"I have a great concern about the transferring of detainees, their treatment and especially the translation because the Canadian officials don't know (what's being said), except whatever the translator is telling them," Malgarai said.
"So they're going to judge and decide to transfer based on whatever is being told to them.
"If that translation is incomplete, and their Pashto language proficiency is questionable, then you would question their entire process."
But Jorgen Kruger, director of policy and programs at National Defence, defended the cultural advisers. He said they are new immigrants being asked to do a tough job for their newly adopted country.
"To have these guys there doing the work that they do under the situation and circumstances; you're aware of the personal danger they face in this role, yet they still continue to carry on under the circumstances," said Kruger in a recent interview.
"We appreciate it. I know the government appreciates it."
Kruger said he's had no cause to question their work.
Even so, Haji Agha Lalai, a provincial council member who runs a program that encourages Taliban fighters to lay down their weapons, said he's heard numerous stories of blameless people arrested by both Canadians and Americans.
Some of them have subsequently had to buy their way out of jail, a common practice in the country's corrupt justice system.
"When the translator doesn't understand anything and he mistranslates and they go to jail, innocent people become the enemies for the foreigners," Lalai said.
Haji Mohammad Qasim, a provincial councillor and a member of the Kandahar Industrial Association, said he's heard complaints of wrongful imprisonment from villages in at least five districts, but has been unable to verify them.
The military relies on two streams of translators for the Kandahar mission -- those hired from the expatriate Afghan-Canadian community who travel overseas with senior commanders; and locally hired residents who've been screened to travel with the troops.
The military will not disclose how many translators it hires and deploys in theatre for operational security reasons.
Malgarai said many of those hired in Canada speak Dari, not Pashto, which is the predominant language in southern Afghanistan.
Dari is the working language of the Afghan government, but many local officials in Kandahar speak only Pashto.
The absence of qualified translators was flagged as a source of concern by the National Defence in 2005, before Canadian troops arrived in Kandahar for the latest mission.
A briefing note prepared for the head of military intelligence warned of the perils of relying strictly on local translators as troops embarked on a dangerous mission in largely unfamiliar and hostile territory.
"The use of local interpreters as language and cultural advisers is an operational security concern," said the February 2005 document obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
"Locally engaged personnel do not have a Canadian security clearance or any other credible police or security check when they assist in high-level political discussions, delicate local discussions, or support-sensitive activities such as (intelligence) and counter-intelligence teams abroad."
To handle many of those delicate tasks, Ottawa hired a consulting company to help recruit interpreters among the immigrant community on the assumption that Canadian citizens would be more trustworthy.
Kruger said the candidates go through a rigorous selection process that includes a language test.
He said more questions could answered by the Defence Department's human resources branch but requests for information went unanswered.
Kruger refused to answer the critical question of what percentage of the translators spoke Dari and what percentage were fluent in Pashto. He said it was a matter of operational security.
The NDP recently asked similar questions regarding the overall number of Pashto-speakers within defence, foreign affairs and international development.
The government responded in writing with full details for both the diplomatic and development departments, but not for defence, where only the cost was shared.
Malgarai said the department tried to make up for the absence of Pashto translators by encouraging those who could speak it to tutor their colleagues.
Malgarai said he's angry with the Afghan community in Canada for not volunteering in greater numbers to help their homeland.
Mistakes could have been avoided, he said.
"I feel guilty and I blame Pashto-speaking Canadians for not going there and doing their part to do a proper job. I feel guilty."
