Afghanistan committee  No, sir. Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here. I can tell you that you have a team of remarkable public servants who day in and day out appreciate the fact that they're representing you and representing all Canadians, and they're doing it to the best of their abilities.

Afghanistan committee  I have certainly always found it to be extremely valuable. I felt the committee members found it valuable as well. It gives you a better feel for the day-to-day work that's under way. I will say that it is logistically a challenge, so please don't underestimate that. In order for us to make sure you see the things you want to see, we have to make sure the right provisions are in place.

Afghanistan committee  Our overall approach to reconciliation—and I'm sure both Mr. Mulroney and Mr. Brodeur have mentioned this before—is obviously Afghan-led, particularly at the national level. As it cascades down to us at the provincial level, it's about trying to find opportunities. One of the things we've focused on, in the first instance, is supporting the provincial council.

Afghanistan committee  I saw progress in some areas. I saw declines in others. It also depends on the time of year. Certainly the height of the fighting season is not the time when you want to necessarily be pursuing some of your larger-scale initiatives. That's the time of year when you should really be planning and lining things up.

Afghanistan committee  Yes. People have a perception that there aren't structures functioning, but there are. There are a few areas that I can point to. We had a weekly security meeting that would occur that the governor would chair, and the heads of the 205 Corps, the provincial police, the border police, and the NDS were all expected to be present, as well as me and General Thompson, for an integrated conversation about security threats and security concerns.

Afghanistan committee  Do you mean on a year-over-year basis? Overall it was about $132 million per year in the year that I was there. This is a fraction of it, but it was meant to be a sort of “small is beautiful” thing. You're really looking at local initiatives, so there's an absorptive capacity question as well.

Afghanistan committee  The reason we always work with communities is that they have to be part owners of the schools that are being constructed. That helps to ensure their security. We're not going to put something up in an area where the communities themselves are not buying into it, nor the department of education.

Afghanistan committee  As I said, we did have about 13 NGO partners that we worked with, along with a panoply of UN agencies. Obviously we also work closely with the ICRC. Then there were some private companies. Development Works is an NGO, but not, if you understand what I'm saying. They also do some for-profit work.

Afghanistan committee  It's Ken Lewis.

Afghanistan committee  There are more than that in Afghanistan as a whole. I think we're at 102. We can give you the specific breakdown in Kandahar, which is what I was responsible for. We went from 15 to 63 in my time there. They included 24 civilian police officers and four corrections officers, and then the rest were a mix of political officers and CIDA officers.

Afghanistan committee  I would for southern Afghanistan, yes. I reported to the ambassador, who obviously has oversight over everything that's happening in the country. The purpose of establishing the RoCK was to have somebody in the south who was managing the civilian personnel and the governance and development programming.

Afghanistan committee  That's correct.

Afghanistan committee  The KPS is a $400,000 replenishable fund. It's a delegated authority to the political director at the PRT, the Foreign Affairs officer. It's to help focus on peace- and security-related initiatives, things that might come up. If the governor wanted to hold a jirga meeting, for instance, we could use resources to quickly support that kind of reconciliation initiative.

Afghanistan committee  It depends on the project. The resources exist out for a certain number of years, and depending on the project, you can allocate funds over a few fiscal years, or if it's a one-off project, obviously the resources are out the door. The KPS, the Kandahar peace and security program, was a pilot project in the first year.

Afghanistan committee  Thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. It can't be overstated how significant it is for these girls and their parents to have the opportunity to go to school. This is a fundamental shift in their society. And you're especially struck by it when you go to one of the schools that Canada or another donor has helped to rehabilitate and you see seven-year-olds, and I say seven-year-olds because of course when you're watching the seven-year-olds and you're looking at them and they're counting and they're reading and they're singing, you are immediately struck by the fact that that is not something they would have been permitted to do seven years ago.