Mr. Speaker, when the Liberal Party and the Government of Canada dealt with where we ought to go on the mission, and whether or not to extend it, we agreed that we would extend the mission to 2011 with respect to the combat aspect. The combat aspect would terminate at that time. That is what the government and the Liberal Party have agreed to.
There was nothing in that agreement that said we would not maintain a presence. We were quite explicit in saying that we would remain and have a presence within Afghanistan. That presence would be a non-combat role, but it would enable the Afghan people to provide for their own security. It would be irresponsible if we walked away right now and did not enable the Afghan national police and Afghan national army to scale up their training.
Our troops do a phenomenal job in training. That is what our party and the government have said that we would support. It is a fair and reasonable thing in combination with the development aspects. The member certainly knows there cannot be development without security. It would be absolutely irresponsible to have development without security because we would be leaving people to the ravages of individuals who would kill or torture them.
I am sure the member understands that our party and the government have chosen a balanced approach between development and security. That development is a fair and reasonable approach to what obviously is a very complex situation. We certainly hope other aspects including the diplomatic ones I mentioned will be part of the ongoing discussions and actions of Canada with respect to the mission.