Thank you, Chair.
It's interesting that Christine hit on the notion that's it's International Women's Day and we have a women's panel. The question I'm going to ask will not be in your briefing notes. It essentially is about the strategic value of women, and the strategic value of women operating in some societies. I think you can draw a direct correlation between fragile states and oppression of women. If it's not a 100% correlation, then it's darned close to a 100% correlation.
The interesting aspect is that it is not simply the one side of the equation, which is the integration of women in our diplomatic corps and our military and CIDA; it is your very presence in those fragile stages, those countries of intervention, that stimulates and causes a conversation about the role of women in those societies. Frankly, sometimes your presence just irritates, in many ways, the established order of that society. The correlation is that not only are you irritating to the established order, and therefore that established order has to respond to your very presence, but your presence also stimulates the conversation in that larger society. So the established order has to respond, in effect justify their exclusion from the state decision-making and active involvement in society.
I'd be interested in your thinking with respect to the strategic value of women operating in the Canadian Forces, the Canadian diplomatic corps, and CIDA, as it relates essentially to the oppression of women and whether you've made any observations.
In particular, I'd be interested in your reflections on Mr. Karzai's recent announcements. We've poured billions and billions of dollars in there, and I assume that we've been ably represented by the best and the brightest, yet we seem to be going backwards. Just give us your reflections on your presence in those societies, particularly Afghanistan, but there may be others as well—in 25 words or less.