Foreign Affairs committee  Could I just mention to the members that I have given you a document that was sent to me by Abdullah Barat, an Afghan who helps run our little NGO in Bamian Province. It's the story of his workload from 1903 and on. One really is amazed at the accomplishments that a single indivi

Foreign Affairs committee  She's a very fiery individual, and I've been on platforms with her. I think we make a good duo when we're there. I may say, with regard to women being in Parliament in Afghanistan--and I see a lot of them all the time--I made the remark about some of them being there to be spoke

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll make one comment about the Taliban, because we keep looking at them as a great monolith. They're like any other political movement: they're off in all directions. When I first went there in 2001 and the Taliban was still the government, I was working with CARE Canada. I went

Foreign Affairs committee  When you ask, I just seem to think there isn't the fundamental knowledge about Afghanistan in Canada that there should be. We keep putting people into little pockets, and we don't see them as a country that has been unified. It was unified under King Zahir in his early years, and

Foreign Affairs committee  I would just add one thing about the differences, about the ethnicities and this kind of thing. In Kabul, the Pashtuns are the prime ethnic group. They've always thought they've run the country anyhow. The people out where I go, in Ghazni, in Bamian, and so on, are Shia Muslims.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's good for all of you to be able to see it.

Foreign Affairs committee  I want to speak to them afterwards.

Foreign Affairs committee  Right. I just want to say that one of the problems for Canadians is that we are given, through our media, a very unbalanced view of Afghanistan. When you talk about the way women or people are treated or whatever, you refer primarily, in your own minds, to the people you see in K

Foreign Affairs committee  No, not CIDA.

Foreign Affairs committee  It was the question on governance that I wanted to speak to. When I was giving my remarks, I talked about the kind of governance that's growing up in one part of Afghanistan. That is now spreading to other provinces. It is a homegrown kind of governance, not the kind that is dep

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for your invitation. This is something of a familiar setting for me. Today I'd like to talk to you about Afghanistan. In doing so, I may say that I read with care the mandate as set out in the motion of November 20, 2007. First, let me mention that I have been going t