Afghanistan committee  I can answer very quickly that since August we've had better access to Afghan territory and have been able to circulate more easily around the country. At least that's the case for U.N. aid workers, but I believe it's the same for most NGOs. Well, my colleagues can confirm that.

Afghanistan committee  I'm sorry; I honestly don't know. I'm not in charge of our relationship with Canada and the regular contact with them. I wouldn't be able to tell you that.

Afghanistan committee  Sure.

Afghanistan committee  Anything that at the moment is an obstacle to providing the needed urgent humanitarian assistance needs to be looked at very carefully and worked on. As you know, the Security Council has adopted a resolution bringing exemptions to the sanctions regime for the UN, but it is important that all countries absolutely move on that.

Afghanistan committee  Yes, it's an issue for us, although it's a different one, since we're part of the United Nations system and we have a slightly different system of privileges and immunities. Having said that, it's certainly an issue for NGOs. It's also a problem for us in terms of Canadian funding and how it is spent, since it can only be used for expenses outside of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan committee  Just very rapidly, 20 years ago, when the Taliban left, we had one million children in school. As of last year, we had 10 million children in school, so we had managed to actually increase the participation in school by a factor of 10. There are still four million children out of school.

Afghanistan committee  We did work with countries like Qatar, for example. Some of the children went to Qatar, so we had to be in touch with them, but the main issue was around the Kabul airport. We did not get involved in the rest.

Afghanistan committee  First of all, we also have about 400 people in Afghanistan at the moment. We have five small offices—one main office in Kabul and five other offices—and a number of posts as well. Our colleagues can function and can move. Frankly, we've been able to access more territory over the past few months than we've been able to before, because the security has improved to some extent and it's been easier for colleagues to move around.

Afghanistan committee  For UNICEF—just like the rest of the UN, but the humanitarian side of the UN—we made the decision that we would stay and deliver inside Afghanistan. I was, myself, actually in Kabul at the time, and so we stayed there. We did share, just like our colleagues from MSF, of course, information about humanitarian needs on a regular basis, but didn't necessarily have more regular contact on the actual issues around evacuation.

Afghanistan committee  Well, we were basically asked, particularly by the U.S., which was managing the airport at that time last year, as you know.... We were told that they had a number of children who were unaccompanied and on their own and needed some assistance, so we did place a number of child protection officers inside the airport to make sure that the children were identified and registered, and that if they could be reunited with their families in Kabul, that happened, or if they were to be evacuated, that we did not lose track of them and they could be followed after that in Doha or other places and be reunited after that.

Afghanistan committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the committee for convening this meeting, which comes at a crucial time for the people of Afghanistan. I want to take this opportunity to thank Canada for being an important partner for Afghanistan and a force for good for years. Together, we've made a lot of progress over the past few years.