Thank you for that question, colleague.
Reconstruction and development in Afghanistan does indeed pose a challenge. This country has known decades of war and conflict, but for the first time, it has a democratically-elected government.
Canada, like many other donors, expects to help the Afghan government to take matters in hand. We have a multitude of programs. For example, when the time came to draft the Afghan constitution, CIDA worked together with people from Rights and Democracy from Montreal. These people worked together with some 60 Afghan female NGOs in order to ensure that the rights of women would be included in the constitution. In order to do so, a lot of research was done. These people helped the women table their briefs and ensure that they were well prepared for their presentations.
This is a giant step for the women of this country. They had lost all their rights; they had none left. It is only one example, but it is a very important one. It is by continuing to educate the Afghan population that we will achieve great progress in terms of human rights, particularly for women.