Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, colleagues, for giving me the opportunity to revisit this issue.
We are in Afghanistan because we really want to help the population, we really care about meeting their needs.
Are there still challenges to meet in Afghanistan? Absolutely. That is why we must stay there. That is why in terms of development, among other things, we will be there until 2011.
One thing is clear: we all want to help. Officials from my department met with representatives of the Senlis Council last week. We asked them a certain number of very specific questions in order to find out where the camps and people were; we wanted to go and help, because according to their allegations, these people were dying of hunger.
I know that other organizations working in the field asked the same questions, because they are concerned about helping people who are in need. I have to say that we are still waiting for answers. That is what I can tell you for now.
In the meantime, I can tell you that the director of the World Food Program clearly stated that thanks to Canadian aid, they were able to provide 10,000 metric tons of food to people in need last year. We expect to double that assistance this year, to bring it to 20,000 metric tons.