OTTAWA - A report by an international think-tank that says the Canadian International Development Agency's contribution to Canada's mission in Afghanistan is virtually non-existent is simply "not true,'' says the minister in charge of aid and development.
Josee Verner held a news conference to rebuff statements made by the Senlis Council, a European-based agency, which has conducted extensive field research in Afghanistan.
A Senlis board member, Noreen MacDonald, said this week that CIDA is not equipped to operate in a war zone, should be relieved of its duties and replaced with a special envoy.
Critics have long accused the development agency of making little headway with aid programs, many of which are meant to persuade Afghans to support the government of President Hamid Karazi instead of Taliban insurgents.
MacDonald says starving Afghans often have to show up at the gates of the United Nations World Food Program in order to get provisions.
Verner says there is no evidence of starvation in the Kandahar region and the UN delivered over 10,000 tonnes of food to people in the southern Afghan province last year, much of it paid for by Canada.
