National Defence committee  As I said, there are two different kinds of Taliban, and the guys who are connected to al-Qaeda are very clever and should be of the greatest concern. The types of Taliban guys you saw were young guys from the villages, and they all were friendly to me, because I was delivering f

National Defence committee  I'll just simplify by saying it's half and half. We all know as Canadians what severe drought can do to a community. Then what happened was, the irrigation systems were destroyed in the war, so what water is around can't get to the crops. It turns out the poppy is a very drought-

National Defence committee  I can speak to what the situation is on the ground. When we try to do our research, we're trying to figure out how to get to places too. That's my job too--how to get to places--so we work with Afghans. We talk to the Afghans and we travel and dress as Afghans so that we don't ha

National Defence committee  We'd be happy to do that on a short-term basis. When I go back now, we are going to do food aid to the best of our financial ability, because I've seen that situation now. As a Canadian, I'm working there, I'm doing the research, and I'm going to do the best I can in our modest

National Defence committee  I've heard that as well, and people have sent us that stuff. I've heard it; we have not researched it, but we have some information about it. It's possible, and that would be a blessing.

National Defence committee  I was there for weeks and months and didn't see it. So....

National Defence committee  I guess what we can say is that it's not.... Those camps are half an hour outside of Kandahar. I was as surprised as anyone. I was there to do research on something else. If they're there, they're not getting as broad and deep as they need to go.

National Defence committee  I can appreciate the Canadians who are concerned about our Canadian military in Kandahar. As I said, they're being asked to fight in a very hostile environment, and in that situation many people who care about the Canadian military and the troops can naturally say they should ret

National Defence committee  First I'd say that all the Canadians I've met who are working for the government or the military in Afghanistan are extremely well intentioned and very committed. Everybody who is there with the various assignments is trying to do their best in an extremely difficult situation. A

National Defence committee  Happy to see you.

National Defence committee  I expect to see you there, sir.

National Defence committee  It's financed by the Network of European Foundations, which is a group of western European foundations that work together on various global issues. I myself am a member of the Network of European Foundations. I run a foundation called the Gabriel Foundation for a Swiss philanthro

National Defence committee  We wrote the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defence, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, but their schedules did not permit them to meet with us.

National Defence committee  He didn't ask us to leave. We did receive a letter from the Minister of the Interior that said they were concerned that in discussing growing poppies for medicine, morphine and codeine, we were violating the part of their constitution that said poppies should not be grown for her

National Defence committee  Yes, it's in Dari.