To me, we're giving this a lot of importance, but I don't think it's the central question.
I want to come back to a question that was posed a long time ago, and I want to go back to my second point, which is what do you people believe is the strategic goal that Canada wants to see achieved there? I said that the strategic goal should be that the Afghan political system would be so strong that it could endure without international support.
With regard to that principle, I want to then comment on the details people have been mentioning. If Mr. Karzai and the government do not want to have a UN ambassador there, then of course there's not much we're going to be able to do about it. Much of what I've seen is that they in fact think that people who come in from outside will be telling them what to do.
I've heard continually today, in both the questions and the answers, that we should be letting the Afghans decide what they want to do. Now all of a sudden, at the highest level, we should have some kind of outside ambassador come in and tell them what to do. I thought the purpose was to let the Afghans decide what they want to do.
Let's go to the second point, which is reconstruction. I've heard a lot of very, I'd say, vague and quite unrealistic discussion about reconstruction. First of all, if reconstruction takes place today without military support, we in fact will have the people who are carrying out the reconstruction killed. It's as simple as that. The Taliban will in fact murder them.
Secondly, if you want to talk about reconstruction, we should talk about things like the gas pipeline. The gas pipeline Russia had built. It goes throughout Afghanistan and helps to bring the electricity to the country. People say they want to do reconstruction. Canada should help with the reconstruction of the pipeline, which is needed. Norway's taking the lead here. They're having trouble with countries like Canada providing enough money and enough clout and saying they will support them.
So I think when we talk about aiding and reconstruction, first of all we have to bear in mind that the Taliban are there, and therefore we have to protect the people who are carrying out reconstruction. Secondly, the government has its ideas of what needs to be done. In my opinion, building a national pipeline is crucial in order to make electricity work again in the country. Rather than some of the low-level projects, maybe it's more important.
Last, I implore the committee to go back and decide what they think the principal strategic goal is. Rather than discussing some of the specific details, what is the strategic goal that Canada wants to see achieved in that country?