The Afghan government had joined with the World Food Programme in July in asking for the $97 million in food aid, so that was a joint request. I think it would help the Afghan government immeasurably if they were involved in the food aid programs, because we're trying to support the authority of the Afghan government, and when I said that would lower the temperature for the operations of the Canadian military, and put us in a more positive light, it would do the same thing for the Afghan government. Once again, I'm not familiar with the current inner workings and capacity of the Afghan government in Kandahar, whether they could or could not, but it would be a real advantage to them to be seen to be involved in providing some immediate food relief to those camps.
On October 25th, 2006. See this statement in context.