Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for inviting me to speak to you as chair of the cabinet committee on Afghanistan, to highlight Canada's work in Afghanistan as profiled in the recently tabled seventh quarterly report on Canada's engagement in Afghanistan.
I will be available for only one hour, colleagues. However, officials from across the whole of the government community, including the Department of Foreign Affairs, CIDA, the Department of National Defence, and the deputy minister of the Privy Council Office's Afghanistan task force, will be available after my departure to continue the discussion on the quarterly reports.
Let me begin, colleagues, as we sadly must, by paying tribute to the courage and the sacrifice of Corporal Darren James Fitzpatrick, who succumbed to his wounds on the weekend after an IED attack in Kandahar on March 6. We praise the men and women of the Canadian Forces and our civilian staff who seek to help Afghanistan achieve peace and security. Their dedication will never be forgotten.
Without a doubt, the dangers of Canada's mission in Afghanistan are ever-present and the challenges to achieving progress there continue to be daunting, yet there is clear evidence that the efforts of our soldiers, our development workers, our police and customs officers, and our diplomats are all making a difference.
Despite the volatile security environment, the economic impoverishment, and the governance problems that persist, we are seeing tangible improvement in the daily lives of Afghans, as I will highlight over the next few minutes.
Most of you will be very familiar with the set of priorities and signature projects that Canada established in 2008, following the recommendations made by the Manley panel. You're aware of the 21 benchmarks and 44 progress indicators we developed to track our progress. And you have read that the quarterly reports we have produced to communicate the results of our work to Parliament and to Canadians—the seventh of which was tabled last week.
The latest report covers the period from October 1 to the end of 2009. Along with an update on our targets, this report also provides a snapshot of Canadian engagement at the national level in Afghanistan; that is, beyond the vital work we are doing in Kandahar province.
It comes as no surprise, however, that the progress we achieved this past quarter—to which I will speak in more detail later—was set against the backdrop of increasing instability caused by the uncertainty in Afghanistan.
The efforts of Afghans and the international community in Afghanistan continue to be undermined by those who seek destabilization through the constant threat of improvised explosive devices, targeted suicide attacks—aimed increasingly at innocent Afghan civilians—and a campaign of intimidation of Afghan government officials and ordinary citizens.
Last October, for example, insurgents attacked the UN guest house in Kabul, killing and wounding Afghans, UN employees and international security personnel. And two weeks ago, insurgents executed a series of coordinated attacks in Kandahar on the Sarposa prison. As we will explain in the next quarterly report, insurgents failed in their attempts to create havoc at the prison, thanks in large part to Canadian mentoring and training of prison staff and Canadian support to the prison's infrastructure.
I am pleased to report that, last quarter, thanks to Canadian efforts, two additional targets were achieved, bringing the total to four. Over 23,500 people in Kandahar have had literacy training and over 4,150 Kandaharis—four times our target—have had vocational training. Additionally, over 200,000 Kandaharis have received “mine-awareness education”, a vital part of keeping Afghans safe from the harmful effects of landmines and explosive remnants of war.
Over 52,000 mines were cleared this past quarter. Clearly, Canada's work on landmines is having a major impact: during the last quarter of 2009, the number of landmine victims dropped significantly and farmers are regaining access to land that had previously not been usable for agriculture. This is just one example of the tangible improvements we are making in the daily lives of Afghans.
We also completed another two schools in our education signature project. Fourteen out of 50 schools have been completed and another 28 schools are under construction. In the next quarterly report, you will see these numbers increase even further.
Teacher training, another vital component of education, also progressed with another 197 teachers trained, bringing the cumulative total to 341.
And the Dahla dam—another Canadian signature project—continues according to plan, with consultation to improve local security conditions in advance of the work that will take place during the dry season. An additional fifty jobs were created by the Dahla dam project this past quarter, bringing the total to 405.
Canada's third signature project is the eradication of polio. During the reporting quarter, nearly 400,000 children in Kandahar province were vaccinated against this deadly disease.
Canada contributed to the curriculum of the Afghan National Customs Academy during the reporting quarter. And in January, classes began. This past week, 48 customs officers graduated from the academy.
In the area of policing, one of Canada's key achievements in the last quarter was the signing of the Kandahar Model Police Project Charter. The project will team Afghan police officers with Canadian policeman mentors, and help to make the Afghan police more responsive to the people of Kandahar and more accountable to government.
In an effort to address the recruitment and retention problems in the Afghan National Police, Canada supported the approval of a new pay and incentive package which included pay raises for the police, bringing them to parity with the Afghan National Army, a longevity raise every three years and an increase in the hazard duty incentive pay.
Canada provides financial support for this initiative through the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan. But in the spirit of honest and frank reporting, we have also reported that progress has not advanced as far as we might have liked across the board. Afghan public perceptions of the security situation in their communities continue to deteriorate. Retention and recruitment problems are limiting the progress we are making in the capacity and building of both the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police.
And the number of polio cases reported nationally increased. None of this, however, should imply that Canada has failed in its efforts. Rather, it points to the fact that progress will be made at different paces and that factors outside of our control will have an impact on our ability to meet our commitments.
Measuring progress in the midst of conflict is no easy task, but Canada continues to deliver on its commitments to help Afghans rebuild their country as a stable, democratic and self-sufficient society.
Mr. Chair, corruption has been cited as one of the biggest challenges facing Afghanistan's development. President Karzai addressed this issue in his inaugural speech last November and pledged at the London conference in January to tackle corruption as a priority of his government.
Canada is also working to help Afghans fight corruption at various levels. Our police mentors have helped develop an anti-corruption strategy for the Afghan National Police and the interior ministry. Canada has also provided an anti-corruption advisor to the Afghan Attorney General's Office and we have provided the UNDP with a $1.5 million grant to support their anti-corruption activities in the Ministry of Education.
It goes without saying that we cannot achieve progress in our priority areas without a strong and effective Afghan government. The London conference in late January, at which I represented Canada, was an important opportunity to reaffirm the commitment of the international community to work with the new government of Afghanistan to accelerate the transition to an Afghan-led security environment.
We are also encouraged by President Karzai's move to launch a new political process for reconciliation. Canada has always supported a national reconciliation process that is based on the acceptance by all groups within Afghan society of the central government's legitimacy and authority as well as respect for the rule of law.
At the London conference, Canada also announced it is contributing $25 million to counter-narcotic efforts, bringing our total commitment in this area to over $55 million.
Afghanistan will again be a priority area for discussion at the meeting of G8 Foreign Affairs Ministers that I will chair in Gatineau in a few days' time. In particular, I hope to build with my G8 colleagues on the important work Canada has been doing to help Afghans and Pakistanis manage their shared border. Pakistan too faces its own economic, political and social difficulties; and I want to examine how we can further encourage and assist Pakistan as well.
Allow me to conclude my statement by reiterating that despite the still very challenging security situation, this latest quarterly report is a testament to the fact that we are making a concrete difference.
I am pleased to answer any questions you may have, colleagues, and officials from the whole-of-government community on Afghanistan will continue the discussion after my departure.
Thank you.
