And in development, we've talked about these targets for years. I'm happy to say that I brought in an 8% annual recurring increase for development assistance when I was Minister of Finance. I'm sad to say that in the testing the department does on what focus groups think of the budget as they read through it, development assistance had the lowest score. So I think, quite frankly, that those of us who believe in the importance of development assistance need to do a lot better job talking to our citizens about why Canada has a role and responsibility, and how we can make a difference.
You know, I've had this discussion with John Watson. I think in some circumstances he's absolutely right, and on some NGOs he's absolutely right. The Red Cross, for example, has to maintain an entirely independent role in conflict situations, because that's the role they try to play; they're bringing that kind of support and assistance.
And I've had this discussion with CARE and others. Right now the largest NGOs, I believe, in terms of people on the ground in Afghanistan, are the Aga Khan Foundation and CARE, neither of which is in the south, for security reasons. And I guess my question would be, well, if you're not there doing anything because of the security risks, surely it's better to be there doing something, even with the protection of the military, than not to be there at all, so that people get the benefit of it, rather than leave the military as the only people who can deliver development assistance. I know about this, because I'm somewhat involved in that community, and this is very controversial in the development community, but I don't see a way around it.
Now, on the question of signature projects, quite frankly, our panel discussed these at some length, and you're entirely right that the Canadians don't care if Kandaharians salute the Canadian flag. They probably should care if they salute the Afghan flag, and we ought to be doing things that try to promote the development of confidence in a government structure that is going to provide assistance to its people, and not threaten its neighbours or allow its territory to be a training ground for terrorism. Somehow or other, we have to create that environment. That, in fact, is what will enable us to move our military forces out, when there's confidence that there's an Afghan government that's able to do that.
But in terms of projects, I think what our panel had in mind was this: people have to be able to identify an improvement in their lives with the efforts under way on their behalf. If they only see some of the destruction you're referring to, then it shouldn't surprise you that their confidence and their respect is going to dissipate.