Mr. Speaker, I will tell my colleague from Outremont that what Canadians do not realize is that on the ground, beyond the spin and the flow charts the government provides us, the evidence is that we have a parallel mission of Operation Enduring Freedom in funding, training and continuing with its approach, which is to search and kill. This is important to underline.
I asked a question of President Karzai when we met with him just over a week ago. I asked him if he was concerned with the tactics of the Americans vis-à-vis their air strikes and what they are doing to villages, be it in Kandahar or throughout the country. Colleagues from the Conservative Party, the Bloc Québécois and the Liberal Party were present. Unequivocally, he said, absolutely, what they are doing is creating more harm. That was said by the president of Afghanistan. He was imploring us to have the Americans to change their method.
His hands are tied because in Operation Enduring Freedom the Americans are off doing their own thing without any oversight. We know they answer to the commander in chief and we know about his success in foreign affairs. He has done just a great job in Iraq and is pursuing the same kinds of procedure, process and tactics in Afghanistan.
Let us make no mistake about it. The effects of the American tactics are affecting what we are doing there. The equation is much more complicated than what the government is providing. It is important for Canadians to know that.
I know that our men and women would prefer to pursue an independent Canadian strategy rather than have this parallel effect, this spillover or Doppler effect, that is happening in Afghanistan. I think Canadians need to know that.
The government has to be more truthful about it. When Canadians find out, I think they will be even less supportive than they already are of this mission in Afghanistan.