I share your concerns, Ms. Lalonde. And it is important to keep this in mind. We are all in agreement. We have accomplished many good things, but there is still much work to be done.
In our opinion, society in western Afghanistan has not recognized the rights of women for hundreds of years. We have been in Afghanistan since 2001-2002, and we have seen progress. But there is still much work to be done.
Women who are members of Afghanistan's Parliament tell me that they are under a lot of pressure and that they are afraid. That is tragic and unfortunate. There is hope in the fact that they are members of Parliament, but they need support. So, when something like the Shia law situation occurs, it is important that we, in the west, make our views heard loud and clear and that we support these women.
All I can say is that I have the same concerns as you. The way I see it, those concerns justify our presence in Afghanistan, and we continue to provide our support.
The situation in schools is even more alarming in some cases. In Kandahar province alone, I believe there are 331 schools, but there are times when nearly half of those are forced to close because of threats from the Taliban. That is tragic. Here in Canada, when a school shuts down, it is because of a snow storm, but there, it is because young girls are being threatened. Sadly, we have seen and heard about young girls being attacked with acid. The Taliban are trying to kill them, and people are fleeing. It is unbelievable.
All I can say is that I share your concerns. They justify our presence in Afghanistan, and we continue to provide our support. We have a lot of work to do.