Mr. Speaker, the following are the words of a young Afghani, Gazal Mohebi, age 14, whom I met along with other members of her community.
“The kids I go to school with tell me that all they see about Afghanistan in the media is ruin and desolation. “Where is all the beauty in your country that you boast about?” they ask me”.
She says that her response is this. “My country has been being ruined for 25 years. Year after year, bombs have rained down on it. But it is still as beautiful as ever in my heart. If Afghanistan were no longer bombed, and there were an opportunity to develop, that would be just great”.
Gazal is not the only young person who wants to see her country's situation improve. Her mother added this. “The young ones who are still over there die in hope. We may have found outward peace here in Quebec, but we still live with our fears. All of us also need to find peace in our hearts and souls”.
The international community has a huge responsibility to make it possible for Afghanistan to rebuild, by providing it with humanitarian aid, justice and security.