Afghanistan committee  Very briefly, Mr. Chair, and again keeping in mind what you said about the fact that this is not an in camera meeting, my understanding is--and the interest of the committee has been registered, and that goes without saying--there's still some discussion with the Privy Council Office, which actually has the lead on this.

Afghanistan committee  This will be fast, because I know Elissa wants to come in on this, and she's the one who lived there, not me. It is important to understand that we're not driven actually by the will to impose values. Here you could have a whole conference about what that means and what western values are compared to others.

Afghanistan committee  Two seconds. The challenge will be there. Again, it's hard for me to predict what the world will look like in 2011, but I think one can assume that security will remain. Is it going to get much worse or a lot better? It's hard to tell at this point in time, but that will remain, I guess, a very important factor.

Afghanistan committee  I think I will have to answer that question, because Elissa had left Kandahar and Afghanistan at that time. It was very significant. What we saw there was, as we say in French, a crise de conscience among women concerning their role and importance in society. There was a very important and significant mobilization of women to protest the law.

Afghanistan committee  If you allow me, I would like to provide the beginning of a response, that Elissa will complete, based upon her own personal experience. Generally speaking, we are always guided by the priorities adopted by the government—these six priorities that you are familiar with. These priorities involve a certain number of objectives, as you know, as well as a performance indicator that we do our best to respect.

Afghanistan committee  This is a working document, a tool that allows us to coordinate the work in the field in the same fashion. We do what we believe is necessary.

Afghanistan committee  Not really. I think Ms. Golberg basically explained how we work there, and I think the bottom line for us is that any kind of capacity...or let's say that anyone who can bring additional support in order to raise the level of capacity I think is welcome. But again, under the circumstances, conditions have to be looked at carefully, and we do partner with a lot of people.

Afghanistan committee  The process now is that the text of the law has been taken back by the Ministry of Justice, or under the lead of the justice minister, and is being reviewed by a group of experts, scholars, and Afghans, with the assistance of members of civil society. They will review it from the perspective of taking out the aspects of the law that are not acceptable.

Afghanistan committee  Mr. Chairman, may I interrupt on a technical point? The document I was mentioning was provided to us by another agency, and it's not a Canadian agency. The document exists in English only. I just wanted to make that clear, because normally the rule is that we should provide these documents in both languages.

Afghanistan committee  Debate. There's a debate now on the Shia law in Afghanistan, something you wouldn't have seen three or four years ago.

Afghanistan committee  I think it's a very fair question. We have eyes and ears; we are watching what's happening. Again, in the absolutely huge amount of activity there, there will be times when, I'm afraid, we may not be as aware as we should be. In this case we knew there was actually a process to produce this law--not only Canada, by the way, but also other international actors.

Afghanistan committee  I don't think there's a debate there. The Afghans themselves recognize that the proposed law, which hasn't been promulgated as it exists now, doesn't meet the requirements of their constitution and doesn't meet the requirements of international covenants and treaties that they adhere to.

Afghanistan committee  Yes, I'll just repeat what I said in French a few minutes ago. That's a very valid point. What Mr. Alexander was actually underlining is the fact that yes, in this nascent democracy, which is still really trying to get its act together, there will be mistakes made, and this is obviously one, and a very serious one, for that matter.

Afghanistan committee  Thank you. I will answer the first part and let Mr. Wallace talk to you about the GSO, the Governance Support Office, which replaced the SAT. I would like to begin by saying that we are not boasting here about our accomplishments. The rights of Afghan women and citizens are extremely important.

Afghanistan committee  Thanks for your question. There is a family law in Afghanistan. It has existed since the beginning of the 20th century. It's based on Sunni jurisprudence, basically because the Sunni community is the largest in Afghanistan. There's a drafting committee right now in Afghanistan looking just at family law, with a view to actually making it suitable for the larger population.