National Defence committee  Thank you very much.

National Defence committee  Thank you. I think this is one of the most important issues of the year. We are very active as the EU 3--France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. We started to work on this one and a half or two years ago, and we're very happy that the United States accepted that it's necessary to work together.

National Defence committee  It's in English? It's available. It's interesting, because he plays with German history, not only because Chancellor Merkel has said very clearly that we won't accept that what the state president of Iran is asserting, in the sense of wiping Israel from the map, is only a saying.

National Defence committee  Absolutely, we've had this debate. The NGO I'm representing as vice-president has done work in Afghanistan during the Taliban's time from Pakistan and Jalalabad. And now they are in Jalalabad, Kandahar, and Herat. So in several regions of Afghanistan, in the Canadian area and two other areas, the experience....

National Defence committee  So some de-escalation was worked out. We do not want our NGOs to leave Afghanistan, but sometimes one has to talk.

National Defence committee  That's complicated. In political terms, the Department of Foreign Affairs is responsible for deciding on missions. That falls under its responsibility. However, we are under order. In Cabinet, the government calls on the Parliamentary State Secretary for Foreign Affairs. For the organization of the missions themselves, the Department of Defence is responsible.

National Defence committee  Thank you for your question. I know Feyzabad, and I work with the provincial reconstruction team. I should add that I'm president of a non-governmental organization that is in Afghanistan. It was created in response to Soviet pressure in Afghanistan. That is how I've been able to take advantage of the military's work from the outside.

National Defence committee  --I'm sure they will make a good offer. As for the timeframe, we expect the first to be service in 2010-11.

National Defence committee  The first corps of the Eurocorps was the German-French brigade initiated by Helmut Kohl and François Mitterand to get the nucleus of a somewhat European military structure. If one takes a pragmatic approach—and I prefer the pragmatic approach—we have seen that there was a lot of improvement and good activities.

National Defence committee  —and the Sea King. We are on the way to transforming our army, and that's a costly issue. We have seen that we need more easily deployable forces and structures. We have underestimated the need for protected transportation capabilities in the mission, especially after the bad experiences we have shared with you with respect to casualties in Afghanistan.

National Defence committee  Mr. Chairman and dear colleagues, thank you very much for the invitation. I want to take part of your precious time on the committee of defence. As you mentioned, for 15 years I was a member of the committee of defence and national security in the German Bundestag. I have some understanding of what such a committee wants to know and to hear.

National Defence committee  That's correct, yes.