Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for your presentation. I think that your statements reflect to a great extent the Bloc Québécois's position.
In fact, I had the opportunity to go to Afghanistan a few weeks ago, on an invitation from NATO. We were brought to Kabul, to the headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force and we visited a provincial reconstruction team in Faizabad, in northern Afghanistan, in order to see how these troops worked. However, the military personnel was German. We were told that the provincial reconstruction teams were not all working under similar circumstances and, for example, they did not want to send us to Kandahar because the situation there was very unstable.
I did make an attempt to go there, however, when a female Canadian soldier was killed, but I was told that it was not possible. My impression was simply that this was a polite refusal.
During our stay there, we heard some very interesting briefings. I'd like to hear your comments on this because I think that the points made reflect to a certain extent your own concerns.
The name of the commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan is General Richards. Currently, we're told, the northern part of the country is stable. The forces are now in the western part of the country and soon they will go south.
In fact, General Richards raised some interesting points about Canadian soldiers. He said that the formula currently being used to fight the Taliban needs to be somewhat changed. Canadian forces should be focusing on security so that the population and the people on the ground see progress being made, that is, more schools, more health services, more infrastructure services such as roads, drinking water, etc.
I imagine, after having said the same thing to other witnesses, that this must be music to your ears.
In other words, Canadian soldiers should somewhat contain their efforts. Rather than advancing with a view to removing the Taliban, they should be content with establishing a security perimeter in order to give civilian forces an opportunity to focus on reconstruction. I would like to hear your comments on that.
My other question is on changing agriculture. I have heard two things and I'd like to hear your opinion.
Let's start with poppy cultivation. We all know, as people have pointed out to us, that poppies are used to produce morphine which is used in hospitals, for health purposes. It has been suggested that western countries make room for Afghanistan in order to ensure that a part of the supply come from Afghanistan.
The most important point is that changes have to be made within agriculture and there has to be a guarantee to Afghans that European economic community countries or NATO countries will purchase their production. It's easy to tell a producer to burn his poppy field, and then leave the rest up to him. He's going to want to know who will buy the potatoes he's going to be producing.
Several people from the European Union are saying that we must be prepared to purchase a part of their production in order to ensure that the agriculture changes are successful.
Those are my two questions.