When Lt. Trevor Greene was attacked with an axe in Afghanistan Saturday, he was attending a shura meeting with tribal elders to promote peace.

The meetings are an important part of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan. They provide the opportunity for military personnel to sit down with tribal leaders and discuss their concerns in an informal setting, in order to build trust.

But it's a dangerous endeavour, whereby soldiers routinely lay down their weapons and remove their helmets in a gesture of goodwill.

"We have to provide security for ourselves and the locals here while we're doing this mission, but at the same time we can't portray the total 'hard face' in front of the local population," Sgt. Patrick Tower told CTV News.

After the attack on Greene, officials are evaluating the practice. But as Greene receives treatment for his injuries in a German hospital, some soldiers continue to disarm themselves at the meetings.

"We have to go through and re-evaluate it but we have to keep doing it … it's how we're going to do it that we don't know yet," said Col. Tom Putt, the Canadian deputy commander in Afghanistan.

One soldier currently weighing the risks of attending shuras is Lt. Col. Ian Hope. He is now leading a convoy into dangerous territory for several such meetings.

"Mullah Omar's hometown -- where he was born -- is about 20 kilometres from here," he told CTV News.

CTV's Lisa LaFlamme reported that a known Taliban spy attended one meeting, but slipped away.

Even getting to the meetings will be difficult for Hope. The roads his convoy must follow are in dangerous territory and he could be attacked by insurgents at any moment.

"This whole area right in here is the heart of the transit corridor of the Taliban," he told his troops.

Canadian troops have braved the dangers to conduct hundreds of shuras. But despite their efforts, the benefits of some meetings can be short lived.

As soon the troops leave, the Taliban frequently enter villages, LaFlamme said.

Hope said the Taliban ask questions, wanting to know what the troops have discussed.

"(They ask) who said what to whom, how many vehicles, why were they here, what did they say they were here to do," Hope said. "They will ask about the things we left behind."

With a report by CTV's Lisa LaFlamme in Afghanistan