Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'm a bit disappointed by the report presented to us today. I recognize the colleague from the Privy Council Office who was here last time. If I remember correctly, we asked for more explanations; we wanted this to be more explicit. However, I see they've regurgitated the quarterly reports. We're reminded of Kabul and Lisbon.
I believe the Privy Council Office insists on wearing rose-coloured glasses. We see the same terms that we've been hearing for years. They talk about little girls going back to school; that's really great. There's talk about soldiers and police officers who protect the Afghan community; they write that governance is very well established and that essential services have been set up; they mention agricultural production.
I've had access to other information that tells us the contrary of what we see in this report. This comes from a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. It contains tables that come from NATO and the UN. I didn't make them up. They were presented to the major-generals of the Afghan forces.
It can be seen from this that the war is completely escalating; the curve is rising. All that's in colour. We can read the words, Time is running out, which means that we're short of time. If I look at the maps of Afghanistan in 2005, 2007 and 2009, I see that the yellow indicating Taliban control is expanding. We're regressing; we're losing this war. And yet we read only good things in the report.
The same is true with regard to combat locations. In one of the tables, we see that all combat locations in Afghanistan are constantly expanding. There's also all of Afghanistan and the ability to control the Taliban and insurgents that are expanding as well.
I also have the number of incidents or attacks per month, in recent years. For example, that number increased from 630 in 2008 to 1,369 incidents or attacks this year. Numbers are similar for improvised explosive devices. We can see a peak, with a vertically rising curve, in one of the tables.
I have another NATO report. I went to Warsaw. Here are the programs noted by NATO. This organization uses the following expressions: insufficient quality of leadership, high illiteracy and attrition rates, limited facilities and forward operating bases, incomplete ability to provide combat or maintenance support, a lack of developed institutions, inadequate logistics capabilities, a lack of accountability for funds, equipment and personnel actions, and a historical under-resourcing of the training mission.
I draw your attention to the high illiteracy rate. And there have been some fiascos over there. For example, we sent an Afghan section to conduct an operation and they were caught so unprepared that they had to call in air support. So it took air strikes to get them out of where they were. Everyone had a map, but no one was able to read it. It didn't go well.
In addition, corruption in the Afghan security forces is appalling. Fuel and weapons disappear. The Americans deliver weapons to the Afghan armed forces and those arms are then found in the hands of the Taliban when they are captured. Some are even found in bazaars in Pakistan. It's not going well. The same is true of equipment. There's also a very high rate of substance abuse.
I don't feel like asking any questions. I previously questioned a general who came to talk to us about a subject and I said that what he was telling us was false. I prefer not to ask questions; I can only deplore the fact that no consideration was given to what we asked for last time. They're still not specific enough and they're still wearing rose-coloured glasses.
I'm going to ask my colleague whether he wants to ask a question on a subject that is important to him.