Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the member's speech and I was amazed at the member's utter lack of understanding of what is actually going on in Afghanistan and the misinformation that he is labouring under. He says that we have 2,500 soldiers over there, 6 of whom are with CIDA and 6 of whom are with DFAIT. In fact, those are civilians and not soldiers at all.
When he talks about the projects that have been undertaken, yes, if they were being conducted by six or twelve civilians the progress we have made would have been unbelievable. The fact is that those projects are being conducted by Canadian soldiers. They are the ones out there in the villages getting irrigation systems going, helping to build schools and helping with medical clinics.
He said that most of the Afghan people do not have access to health care. That is just flat not true. Eighty-three per cent of Afghans have access to basic health care compared to less than 10% five years ago.
The member is completely misinformed about what is going on there. I suspect that it is because he is either simply misinformed or he has another agenda. He talked about over 100 Canadian deaths in Afghanistan. That is absolutely not true. There have been 80, including 1 civilian. If he would get his facts right he might have a little more credibility standing up in this House and presenting arguments.
I could go on and on. There has been a 22% decrease in infant mortality. Forty thousand Afghan babies do not die in childbirth every year because Canada is there and Canadian soldiers are there providing health care to Afghans, along with the rest of our allies.
The mission is in balance. If he would get out of just the Kandahar province and look at all 34 provinces in the country of Afghanistan he would see that there is tremendous balance in the mission. Kandahar is the toughest nut, there is no question, but that is specifically why Canada is there, because our folks are the best. They have been doing a heck of a job and he should acknowledge that, but I fear he will not.
If he wants to look at some of the development projects he can go to Google Earth and have a look. It is right there provided by the satellites.
I would like to ask the member one question. What does he think the role of the Taliban is in our ability to carry out reconstruction projects or our ability to put more energy toward those things, which we are putting energy to but he does not realize it? What does he think the role of the Taliban is in all of this?