Mr. Speaker, as you know, our main objective in Afghanistan is to support the Afghan people so that the country becomes stable, democratic and self-sufficient.
We worked with other countries, the United Nations, NATO and various international organizations to provide the security and stability necessary for the implementation of multilateral and bilateral development programs in Afghanistan, to ensure a systematic reconstruction of that country and to rebuild its economic, political and judicial institutions.
The former government committed significant resources of over $600 million toward achieving these objectives through coordinated investments in development assistance, defence and diplomacy. We are extremely pleased that the government has maintained this commitment. However, several questions arise concerning today's pledge to provide $15 million to the Asian Development Bank to assist in rebuilding Afghanistan's rural irrigation.
We do not know whether this $100 million comes from the current budget for Afghanistan or is new money.
There are few details of the breakdown of the money contributed to the Asia Pacific development fund. How much of the money will be going toward construction costs, salaries, transportation or security? Is the Asia Pacific development fund already running this project or is this the first contribution?
The House still has not received details from the Minister of International Cooperation as to how this $100 million is going to be spent this year and how much is going to Kandahar versus the rest of the country. In addition, it is not clear if this initiative will be accomplished in conjunction with a larger agricultural reform program. Although this is alluded to in the speech, what is the exact relation of this program to the ongoing poppy elimination initiatives?
The Prime Minister made reference to Canada's international reputation. First, he stated that this announcement is part of, and I quote him, regaining the trust of our allies. Given Canada's leadership on the world stage and in particular in Afghanistan, it is not clear that we ever lost the trust of our allies.
Second, the Prime Minister refers to “pull[ing] our weight in United Nations missions”. Again, it is unclear as to when this was not the case. It is this very commitment in Afghanistan that the Prime Minister and the Minister of National Defence have referred to when asked about the United Nations call for western military engagement in Darfur. The government has been unable to provide the international community with assurances that it has both the capacity and the political will to pull its weight in Darfur.