September 23, 2007 New York - SG:  Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have had a very constructive and useful high-level meeting on the situation in [Afghanistan] that President Karzai and I co-chaired.

All the participants agreed that, while Afghanistan is going through a crucially important transition.  They praised the leadership of President Karzai and the progress they have made, even under an extremely difficult situation.  They praised the efforts of the Afghan Government and military forces, as well as international military forces who have been making extremely important contribution to secure peace and security in Afghanistan.

While we agreed that the challenges are enormous and difficult, we also hope that the Afghanistan Government, under the leadership of President Karzai, will continue to focus their efforts in good governance, eradicating corruption, eradicating opium cultivation and drug trafficking, and promoting more education and sanitation and health facilities.  The international community has reaffirmed its commitment to support the Afghan Government’s efforts in terms of economic and social cooperation.  We are very pleased that we have come out with a joint communiqué which reflects all the discussions we had.

There was one important request - that the coordination role of the JCMB – Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board – should be strengthened, and the role of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General should also be further strengthened.

We are also of the view that, while we help the Afghan Government in their own efforts, the regional cooperation in the [economic and security areas] should also be strengthened, and there should be more efforts by President Karzai and Afghan leaders in promoting inclusive political dialogue for national reconciliation.  All these efforts should be accompanied by international cooperation.  All in all, we are very happy and encouraged that the Afghan Government has been making progress and the international community made again a firm commitment to help such Afghan efforts in the future.  Thank you.

President Karzai: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary-General.  Thank you very much for hosting this very important meeting today.  As always, it is very kind of you, since taking over as Secretary-General of the United Nations, you have been very attentive to Afghanistan, and focused on Afghanistan.  I thank you for the leadership you have provided, and for the opportunity you have provided today, for me and for other countries to once again discuss Afghanistan, and once again reaffirm support to Afghanistan, and once again highlight the difficulties that we in Afghanistan have, together with the international community. 

In the meeting today, I thanked the international community for its support to Afghanistan in the past six years, for the sacrifice that the men and women of ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] and the international community have made in Afghanistan, and continue to make in Afghanistan, for bringing their precious tax payers money to Afghanistan, to rebuild Afghanistan, and for helping Afghanistan stand back on its own feet.

I highlighted the achievements of Afghanistan in a few words, and then the challenges that we continue to have in Afghanistan, and listened to the comments by the participants of the meeting today, with regard to the expectations of the international community in Afghanistan and their continuous support to Afghanistan.  I came out very happy from the meeting.  Once again there was a reiteration of support to Afghanistan from all the members participating, and that venue, Mr. Secretary-General, was provided because of your leadership, and I thank you for it.

[Question and answer in Dari]

Question: Mr. President, what is your Government doing to bring the Taleban to the mainstream lifestyle, and also, do you think the international community has fulfilled its promises to Afghanistan, promising more, but are they doing enough?

President Karzai:  There is a process going on in Afghanistan for quite some time now, called the Peace and Reconciliation Process, headed by a very respected Afghan, the Chairman of the Afghan Senate, Professor [Sibghatullah] Mujaddedi.  There is also, alongside this, efforts going on to bring back all those Taleban who are not part of Al Qaida, who are not part of terrorist networks, who have, for one reason or the other, been forced or found in a position to leave Afghanistan or to pick up guns.  We are working hard on that.  We are trying very hard to bring them back to the fold, to make them return and participate in the making of the country.  It is extremely important that this process will go on.  Afghanistan, Sir, is extremely grateful to the international community for the assistance that it has provided.  A lot of assistance has come, and we are deeply, deeply grateful to the international community, to the United Nations, and if you are asking whether Afghanistan needs more, of course it does need more.  If you are asking whether we will ask for more, we are grateful for what has been given to us already.  If more is given, of course we will be very, very grateful.

Question:  President Karzai, how disappointed would you be if the Dutch Government decided not to stay in Afghanistan?

President Karzai:  The Netherlands has been one of the countries at the forefront of assistance to Afghanistan, from the first day until today.  It has been one of the best suppliers of assistance.  It has supplied directly to the Afghan Government.  It has sent its sons and daughters to Uruzgan province to secure the province and to provide reconstruction.  We would very much want the Netherlands to remain committed to Afghanistan.

Question:  Mr. President, could you speak about the all-inclusive talks.  The other rebels groups, including warlords, how will you identify whether these are the good people, these are not.  That is a very difficult process as you know.  And, could you speak a little bit about Pakistan’s cooperation with Afghanistan on this issue?

President Karzai:  Well, it is easy to identify the good from the bad.  Deeds will tell, and deeds do tell, so that identification is simple.  Those who are willing to come and participate and take part in building a stronger, better, prosperous, democratic Afghanistan, are the good ones.  Those who continue to fight are, of course, the bad ones.  Pakistan’s contribution is very, very important.  We are working on it.  The peace jirga was an important step in this direction.  There is a sub committee formed of the peace jirga between the two countries – 25 from each side – that will meet in a few days time, and that will then determine the course that we take towards better cooperation between the two countries in an effective fight against extremism and terrorism.

Question:  Is there a possibility that in the near future you could negotiate face-to-face with the Taleban?  And, our Minister of External Affairs [Canada] was traveling this week to ask countries like Italy, Germany, to bring some more troops to fight the Taleban in the south?  What is your position on that?

President Karzai:  We are already in contact through the peace and reconciliation process with those Taleban who are not part of Al Qaida and terrorist networks, who are really in the majority - the kind of Taleban that I spoke about – and this process is going on and we would like to add to this process as the opportunity presents itself.  Canada is one of the great contributors to Afghanistan’s reconstruction and peace building and institution-building.  It has given us a lot.  It has given the lives of its sons and daughters in Afghanistan, a sacrifice of life.  We are grateful for it, and we will support Canadian efforts in bringing more resources to Afghanistan, be that military or financial and reconstruction.

Question:  Your Excellency, Mr. Secretary-General, has the UN made any new commitments at this high-level meeting on Afghanistan, as regards security and opium eradication?  And if it has, could you be specific and tell us exactly what they are?

SG:  From the beginning, the United Nations has been actively participating and assisting the Afghan Government and people’s efforts to reconstruct their country, and recently the United Nations has been increasing its presence there.  I know that, again, this morning there were requests and a strong desire on the part of Member States that the United Nations do more – the UNAMA office increased its role there.  This is what we have been doing and we will continue to do, closely monitoring the security situation there.  We have established nine more offices recently in eight regional offices, therefore we have now 17 offices altogether.  We have still a shortage of manpower, but we are now in the process of considering how we can increase our contribution.  However, aside from this, when it comes to political dialogue and facilitation and organizing international social and economic reconstruction plans, the United Nations will continue to lead this international campaign.

Question:  How do you describe the cooperation between Iran and Afghanistan and the United Nations regarding combating narcotics smuggling?

SG:  Again, the cooperation in social and security areas with regional countries is very important.  This is what I discussed with President Karzai individually this morning.  There were many participants who stressed the importance of further strengthening regional cooperation. I am encouraged that President Karzai had initiated a very successful Pakistan-Afghan jirga meeting.  This is what President Karzai will continue to do, in close coordination with leaders in the region.

Question: [inaudible] relations with Iran regarding combating narcotics?

President Karzai:  Iran has been one of the countries in an effective combat against drugs.  It has given a lot of sacrifice.  Earlier, Foreign Minister [Manouchehr] Motaki mentioned 3,000 Iranian security forces have lost lives in combating drugs.  It is an important area of cooperation between us and Iran.  We can only add to it.  We can only strengthen it.

Thank you.

SG:  Thank you very much.

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