General David Richards, Commander of the International Security Assistance Force, ISAF, explained — and I think the Chief of the Defence Staff and the Minister of National Defence basically said the same thing — that there may be as much as 60 per cent of the Afghan population, especially in the South, which still hasn't decided if it will support the government or the insurgents. It's not a matter of whether or not they are opposed to the Canadian Forces or to the coalition, but rather, whether or not, they are going to support the Afghan government. They haven't made up their minds. We're there to help the Afghan government win the Afghan people's trust, and we won't get there simply by way of our security operations. We really must win the Afghan people's confidence through our efforts in the area of governance in order to wipe out corruption so that Afghani people can learn to trust their legitimate authorities. The same is true when it comes to reconstruction.
On November 8th, 2006. See this statement in context.