National Defence committee  The Afghan government had joined with the World Food Programme in July in asking for the $97 million in food aid, so that was a joint request. I think it would help the Afghan government immeasurably if they were involved in the food aid programs, because we're trying to support

National Defence committee  The people you saw on that screen live in villages, and they've never even been to Kandahar. When I ask them about their aspirations, they tell me they would like to go to Kandahar one day. It's a half-hour drive away. They're very unsophisticated people, and they don't read and

National Defence committee  Like the co-ops.

National Defence committee  You might have something there.

National Defence committee  These are the conversations I'm having with them. So that's why I go and talk to the local commander. And the local commander is committed, in fact, to his community. They're all his relatives. So you have to make the deal with the shura and the local commander. In that case, th

National Defence committee  I'm a prairie girl.

National Defence committee  Absolutely there's good news in lots of parts of Afghanistan, in the north in particular. There is a lot less fighting. There is some indication of Taliban resurgence in Badakhshan. In Kabul there's a lot of economic development. If you listen to the complaints, there's a new r

National Defence committee  Right. Since we released our first feasibility study, we got a bunch of Afghan experts from Britain to go in there and study at the village level. In every village—so maybe it's a little bit like our prairies—everybody knows how many jeribs or acres of land everybody else has. T

National Defence committee  Yes.

National Defence committee  That's such a good question, and I've asked them that directly when I've sat in their jirgas. I don't want to go and run a pilot project in a community that can't do it. And I've said to them directly, “Will you allow this to be diverted for heroin?” They have a type of Islamic o

National Defence committee  We're a small research organization, and we ended up doing food aid because we were in villages where people needed food. As I said to your colleague, when I go back now, I intend to continue doing that. We have infrastructure there, and we will help any government, any agency, i

National Defence committee  I don't know whether it's a difference of opinion, or that there's some place where I didn't go, and vice versa.

National Defence committee  I will say that I believe I was in territory that is mixed control. We were able to go there, and if you were in a military convoy it would be a different situation.

National Defence committee  That's a fair one.

National Defence committee  We asked the question—because we're doing the “five years later” report—in a survey: “Are you better off now? Are you better off in the last five years, or what has changed in your financial circumstances?” I think the answers in rural Helmand and rural Kandahar were “We're worse