Mr. Chair, I congratulate you on assuming your new duties here in this House.
I have listened carefully to the member's speech and I cannot imagine a single parliamentarian, in fact I cannot imagine a single Canadian, who does not absolutely agree with her point, that the people of Afghanistan need and deserve our support.
However, I am sure the hon. member is aware that some 18 months ago, as far back as September 2004, a large number of non-governmental organizations involved in international development and humanitarian work in Kandahar issued the unambiguous warning that the blurring of military and humanitarian objectives in Kandahar was placing relief workers and Afghani civilians alike at unnecessary risk. As a result, a great many international NGOs actually vacated Kandahar, including some important Canadian NGOs.
It is well-established, in international humanitarian law and in practice, that it is impossible to give impartial assistance when the assistance is tied to a military campaign.
Given that fact, would this member not agree that the role of the Canadian military should be to provide security and protection for Afghani civilians rather than blending a combat role with development and reconstruction? Does she understand the concern about the blurring of these role? Does she understand that the assistance needs to be delivered by Afghanis and Afghani civil society, with support from international agencies and security provided to them by military who are not involved in aggressive combat roles?