It's never too late to try to end a conflict.

Absence of failure does not constitute success.

Politics is a profession, and a form of service, and it should draw people who are passionate and have deep experience of the complex, changing nature of the world.

We Canadians need, as a country, to be much more present globally than we have been today.

We Canadians need to go beyond what any previous government has done in terms of our diplomatic network, our support for companies to export, trade and invest beyond North America, and our contribution to the safety of the international system, through defence, development, international organizations, and so forth.

The story of Taliban recovery and resurgence begins in the places where they took refuge after 2001. And as long as those leadership structures and training structures operate outside of Afghanistan with relative impunity, the conflict will continue.

All politics are local, whether in Kabul or in Canada.