I am, nevertheless, satisfied with your answer. However, I do not agree with telling the military, once the vote has been adopted in the House, that they have free rein, and that we will take out our chequebook and ask them how much money they want to deal with the issue.
I wonder about what has been in the press lately, and what is happening in the theatres of operation as such. I do not know if you have seen the report that just came out in the United States and that states that since involvement began in Afghanistan and Iraq, terrorism has been on the rise.
As parliamentarians, we are in a position to question whether the military approach, or the almost strictly military approach, is the best.
You say that the Taliban have been somewhat thrown off track. In that case, I do not understand why we are sending in tanks. There is also talk of perhaps sending in F-18s. In fact, they are not really all that off track.
Moreover, we question that. How is it that we are unable of defeating them? Perhaps it is because they now have the support of their own people. Perhaps it is because there has not been enough development work done and they think that nothing has changed since the military involvement.
I would like you to give me your views on that. Personally, I get the sense that both of you have a strong military bent. I am not challenging that, since it is your right. However, some of us believe that perhaps we should consider another approach. Perhaps we should look at how we can win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. In fact, that can often be achieved by building schools and hospitals. I agree that security must be provided, but there are several ways of doing that, and it is not necessarily by going as far as killing the last Taliban in Pakistan. There could be security perimeters to ensure that what is built is not demolished overnight.
I would like to hear your comments on those two aspects, on diplomacy and development, rather than on the military approach, as I am not convinced that that is the best approach at this point in time.