Thank you very much.
Ambassador, thank you very much for coming. One of the key issues for this committee is for Canadians to understand what is happening in Afghanistan. Your presence, coming here and being televised, gives Canadians an understanding of what is going on in your country.
As you know, your country, for all practical purposes, as you said, a ground zero failed state coming into functioning state, requires a lot of effort, which we are discussing here--security, corruption, development aid, and everything you have discussed. But a key element most Canadians are looking for right now has to do with this election process that is taking place in Afghanistan. My colleague Mr. Hawn, as well as everybody else, has gone, and are looking to you to see about this process of the election. Despite the fact that over a million ballots are gone, and that 40% turned out, the key element here is that this is your second parliamentary election. You had your presidential elections. What comes out of all of these things are the questions about invalid votes, intimidation, and everything.
Rightly so, you've pointed out that these are new areas where these things are happening. But Canadians would like to hear from you, out of this whole process, where are you progressing? Has this election actually...? I mean, we're talking about a million votes being invalid. We're talking about 224 candidates under investigation and all these things. But bring it down to the ground zero level and say to Canadians that this election has seen remarkable improvements over the previous elections, and where it is going, and where it is headed. Because at the end of the day, the election, and whether you can have your peace process....
When I was in the United States, I listened to your president on Larry King Live talking about the peace process and everything. But at the end of the day, the Afghanis are going to say, what is in there for me? Was there any improvement?
If they cannot make the judgment of who is going to represent them in a transparent manner, is that...? That is the key element Canadians are asking about, so I would like your impression of what is coming out now, and for you to tell us that there have been, oh, remarkable improvements that you can identify for us.