rest in peace; Good Government on back-order

Why is the CDS meeting with aghan village elders?
Now I know it's important for the 4-star general to support his troops, but to do their job for them? Hillier is not the mission leader, there is another canadian general in charge of that, PLUS he himself has appointed another general in charge of all foreign operations. Why is Hillier intervening/ interfering like that with his own generals?
Afghanistan isn't the only place in the world we've got troops committed to. And meanwhile, who's looking after all the rest of the Canadian Forces that he's in the process of breaking and re-organizing, not to mention the brand-new defence minister? Is he trying to create a diversion from more important but thorny issues? This, combined with the recent splurge of state VIP appearances at military ceremonies and funerals, appears to be yet another unfortunate exhibit that our government is following the US example of favouring political spins and fancy photo ops over good governance. >:(
Note that despite my opposition to these alleged photo-ops, I very much appreciate how important all this is for the families of the deceased. However, I'm concerned that the government (and the media and the general culture) become more focused on glorifying the dead and the mission, than determining whether the mission (and the means) really is in the world's best interest...