Afghanistan committee  Thank you so much for the time.

Afghanistan committee  Yes, Mr. Harris, it's the Ministry of Women's Affairs, which was established in late 2001, early 2002. It was given the very mandate that you describe, but since then has received only 2% of the development budget of other ministries and has received very little capacity and very little authority to do what it needs to do.

Afghanistan committee  Thank you for that clarification. That's good.

Afghanistan committee  Very briefly, Afghanistan has always been a conservative society. This is sure. But before the insurgents took over, 75% of all teachers across the country were women. Many doctors, many lawyers, many nurses were women. So throughout the last century, we have seen significant moments at which women's rights have been fairly well respected, especially in cities.

Afghanistan committee  I'm very pleased you raised the question of guarantees because this is something that has to be handled very delicately but very deliberately. We certainly aren't recommending that Canada put itself into a position where if a certain guarantee is not met, Canada's influence disappears altogether because you've said, well, we're not going to support you anymore, we're not going to give you any more funding, or whatever it might be.

Afghanistan committee  No, you're right, and I would absolutely be willing to continue that part of the conversation later on. What I think we have to remember is that Afghanistan has signed up to every protocol under the sun--UN Security Council Resolution 1325, CEDAW, EVAW--all of these international....

Afghanistan committee  Ask the Afghan women: they live the reality every single day. They know what's possible. They know what isn't possible. They know what mullahs are on their side. They know what mullahs are more hostile to them. They've got a lot of the responses. We need to follow what they're telling us, so we need to reach out and ask them.

Afghanistan committee  It's so simple. There are Afghan women's networks that are available that are based in Kabul but they have membership throughout the country. It's one phone call. CARE is affiliated with them very directly. Heather Cruden, who is head of CIDA for Afghanistan, is also connected to them.

Afghanistan committee  The infrastructure could be strengthened. Right now international donors, including Canada, tend to give “projectized” grants, give grants to women's networks that are $20,000 here, $40,000 there, $300 there. These support them on one particular task when really what these women need are longer-term, core funding support so that they can go out when they need to and do surveys with women across the country, they can write up reports, they can hire a permanent researcher, hire a permanent advocacy person.

Afghanistan committee  No. As a matter of fact, our work extends to about three-quarters of the country, either directly with people or through Afghan or international partners. We have operations in almost every part of the country, but less so in the southeast because this is always difficult. So I am talking about our experiences everywhere in the country.

Afghanistan committee  It's a myth that it has to be an elephant. It doesn't have to be an elephant. I almost believe, with all possible respect, that the international community fears culture so much, they tend to avoid it when we actually don't have to avoid it. Regarding Islam and the interpretation of Islam, the unfortunate reality is that the people we hear in Canada are those with the microphone, and the people with the microphone are the fundamentalists, the radicals.

Afghanistan committee  In fact, we need to do three things at the same time in order to improve the present situation in Afghanistan. No doubt, we should absolutely work with women to improve their capabilities, their awareness of their rights and so on. However, there are two more aspects to this situation.

Afghanistan committee  Absolutely not. We believe that some form of reconciliation, some form of reintegration, is probably the best way forward. It is the non-violent end to the conflict, and it is what brings a society back together. The way it is handled is critical. The way it is undertaken is where the devil lies.

Afghanistan committee  We do. We have significant operations in Pakistan. Right now, of course, a lot of the attention is on the floods.

Afghanistan committee  It is not what we do. When we have those sorts of dialogues, it is to facilitate humanitarian access. It is to get into vulnerable communities where the UN and certain other facilitating partners are not able to go. We need to establish safe passage into the most vulnerable communities, and that is the basis on which we have discussions where they are necessary.