First of all, I would say that it is important to understand that we are not alone. We have no partners in Kandahar province, but there are others in the south and they are conducting very difficult operations. Next to us, in Helman province, we have the British and the Danes. The Netherlands is in Oruzgan with the Australians. The Americans are in the south with the Romanians.
We have chosen a difficult task, but we are not alone. We are certainly working with others, and we think that NATO should find a partner to work with us in Kandahar.
Why did we not recommend a withdrawal date? We discussed it, and we said that our mission "should not be half-hearted nor open-ended". But we found it impossible to determine the date by which we could state that our mission would end. We can, however, say which tasks we need to accomplish. We felt that we would be able to leave the region when the army and the police were in a position to provide security for the Afghan people, and that is not a date that we can specify.
Now, as I understand it, Parliament is going to decide on an end date. In my view, this is Parliament's role, not our panel's. So it must now decide which tasks we must accomplish and by when, so that, in 2011, we will be able to say that we can withdraw our troops and that our task will be complete. That is the role of our officials.