I know many Canadians, people I have talked to, who have asked what our national interest is in Afghanistan. Do we expect the Taliban to hop on a plane and come over here and do damage? It doesn't make any sense, somehow, to many people.
Other writers and researchers have written that, in effect, our national interest is a geopolitical interest. In other words, there is a play going on in this region between the west on the one hand and China and India on the other. When you speak of national interest, do you mean that geopolitically it's in our best interest, as a western nation, to have a foothold there to ensure a supply of oil, to ensure our future energy interests?