Good afternoon, committee.
This is meeting 13 of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, Tuesday, February 12, 2008.
Our orders of the day today include a briefing on the situation in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
As witnesses today we have senior officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. First of all, we welcome back Mr. Randolph Mank, director general, Asia South and Pacific bureau; and Jim Nickel, director of South Asia division.
In our second hour we will proceed with our committee business, but in this first hour we will hear from our officials on the briefing out of Pakistan. It seems like only a couple of weeks since we said hello. You're back again, and we appreciate it.
To the committee, because this was put together fairly quickly, there is no written text of what they're saying. They're here to give us just a verbal briefing.
We very much appreciate your coming on short notice, and the record will bear that short notice. We appreciate it, and we look forward to your remarks.