Thank you very much for your question. It's important. I clearly understand the challenge that the soldiers and everyone doing humanitarian work in the field are facing in Afghanistan.
I'm not aware of the particular briefing in which you've been given information in NATO, but I can tell you that Canada's engagement there is very much, as I said in my presentation, threefold. It's not purely of a military nature. It is very much about democracy building, and the work being done there by our ambassador is exemplary. It's also very much about the humanitarian effort, which includes the provincial reconstruction team, which includes working with some NGOs who are there, including the Red Cross.
It's also, to give a specific example that you've referred to, about helping to build schools. I visited one of those schools in Kabul and I saw the work that was being done to help young children, particularly those who were orphaned, who were living on the street prior to Canada's involvement there along with the allies. They are now being given an opportunity to learn trades, to learn basic sanitation and engagement with one another, basic reading and writing and educational skills that were never available to them before.
I saw young women, young girls, there for the very first time, permitted to go to school, where previously they were barred from attending any form of educational institution. The numbers are staggering. Somewhere in the range of 4 million to 5 million kids are now in school as a result of the work that's being done. I consider that very much about not only supporting and elevating the lives of people of Afghanistan, but I also witnessed the warmth of the embrace that the Afghan people extended to not only soldiers, but aid workers, individuals who were there to genuinely try to help them.
So it's all part and parcel of the mission, if I can put it this way. It's not a change in position. It's not a strategic shift. It's not about being reassigned or redeployed. It's very much part of the overall intent to bring stability to that region, to see that the difference that we make is lasting, that it isn't going to simply evaporate when the allies eventually do leave the country. So there has been no change in operations that I'm aware of.
These operations, as you know, in terms of the military responsibilities will change with the transition that's going on into the NATO operation. That will in fact change. Leadership positions will change. The work that is being done currently in Kandahar and Kabul will, from time to time, involve a change in the leadership role, and a rotation that occurs on a regular basis is part of that overall exercise.