I'm going to ask Mr. Burney to make some comment on this as well, from his experience. But I'd say, first of all, I think we observed the elections in Pakistan with the first sense of optimism about the state of affairs in that country in a long, long time. As we noted in our report, we were writing around the time of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, and things looked very grim indeed. I think the defeat of the Islamic extremists in the election can only be described as a promising sign.
There is no question that the inability to secure the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, together with the financial assistance that has been so readily available to the insurgency—we think, as we said in our report, to some considerable extent from the gulf states and from citizens of Saudi Arabia—is undermining the safety and security of Canadian Forces and other ISAF forces in Afghanistan. Therefore, if there were a way to deal with this, needless to say, that would be very promising. Therefore, I think most of us on the panel would agree with the assessment that Pakistan has been perhaps the most dangerous place on the planet, and its future impacts directly on Afghanistan.
What can Canada do? Truly, we are limited in our relations with Pakistan to diplomatic measures. We are an aid provider to Pakistan. I think that should give us at least some leverage. But we need, more particularly, to act in concert with our allies in dealing with Pakistan, encouraging them and assisting them where they are willing, to help crack down on what's happening in the western provinces.
Derek.