Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to our guests for appearing at committee today.
I have many questions. Maybe I'll start with Afghanistan.
I liked your idea. It has been floated particularly around Mr. Brahimi. Actually he was here in Ottawa just last June, and I had the opportunity to speak with him. He was at a conference here on Islam, with Ahmed Rashid, the Pakistani journalist. It was interesting because he was not only the UN representative post-9/11; he was also there in 1998, and he reported to the UN three things that were of concern in Afghanistan. He said there was a problem with drugs; there was a problem with the terrorists being trained; and there was a problem with human rights. He was dutifully ignored, particularly by the U.S.—he told me this—which said drugs in Afghanistan weren't a problem they were worried about because they were worried about Colombia and cocaine; the training of terrorists wasn't something that was happening in their neighbourhood in particular; and regarding the area of human rights, there were cultural nuances so they were not going to really go there.
You know well his work in Bonn. One of the things he said to me was that he was very specific about the role of the UN, and he said again he was ignored in terms of what he recommended and what happened.
I am concerned that if we don't have something other than NATO to offer, we certainly won't be able to use this institution to forge what you're describing. After all, NATO--even just in name, let alone what it does--isn't sufficient for next steps.
Mr. Hampson, talking about eminent persons, would they then engage the countries in the neighbourhood for peace talks, to then forge some sort of agreement? What would happen after that, in your mind?