OTTAWA — Allegations that Canadian commanders turned a blind eye to sexual abuse of a young boy by Afghan soldiers and police have been dismissed as unfounded by military investigators.
A new report says military police have not received complaints of abuse in Kandahar.
The Canadian Forces National Investigative Service, which oversees military police, says it has determined the initial allegations made by returning soldiers and the pastors who counselled them contained “serious discrepancies” and could not be corroborated.
Lieutenant-Colonel Gilles Sansterre, who is in charge of the agency, says the investigation was thorough, but in the end there was no evidence that Canadian military law was broken.
He says military police have jurisdiction over Canadian soldiers and civilians, not Afghan nationals in their own country.
The allegations that Afghan soldiers, police and even interpreters sexually abused young boys while on Canadian bases in Kandahar also prompted an wider investigation involving a military board inquiry, which has yet to table its findings.
