Merci beaucoup, Madame Verner et Monsieur Greenhill, for being here today.
I'm having a very difficult time, Madame Minister, with your line of interventions. You have said that funds for CIDA provided to the government are not earmarked for Kandahar. You've also said that the government cannot track aid to Afghanistan, yet in your testimony just now, you just said that all the money is spent in Kandahar.
How do you know that the money you have allocated through CIDA is getting to Kandahar, when you've also said repeatedly in public that you can't track the money that's going to Afghanistan, that you don't know where it is?
I think the real tragedy we're finding is that our troops are out there giving their lives--and you know, Minister, that our troops are out there putting their lives on the line in order for development to occur behind that--but from General Howard and others we learn the aid is not getting there. The Taliban strength is increasing, poppy growth is increasing, the Taliban's control over the country is increasing, and the aid is not getting on the ground.
How do you know that all of the money has been spent in Kandahar? Tell us how many schools CIDA has funded in the Kandahar province.