Mr. Speaker, today President Karzai could not have been more clear on the need to move “beyond military operations toward a more balanced mission”. Yesterday, to a U.S. audience, he said that “bombings in Afghanistan are no solution to the Taliban. You do not destroy terrorism by bombing villages”, and yet the government is spending nine times more on the military than we do on aid.
Could the government explain how its plans to escalate our military presence, by first sending in tanks and now by proposing to send in fighter jets, is achieving a balanced objective in Afghanistan?