TRANSCRIPT

The Secretary-General asked me to come to Afghanistan to represent him at the inauguration of the parliament yesterday. And I must say that when I was there, watching the President and the parliamentarians, this was I think a very important ceremony for all of us – a very moving one.

I was thinking of where we were four years ago and where we are now, and I could see in the faces of the people in the parliament that we have come a long way and this is really a historical moment for Afghanistan and for all of us.

Obviously in the course of the few days I have been here, I see all the work that needs to be done. The other reason for my visit was really to assess how the UN is going to make a contribution in the next five years. I believe that the London Conference should be for the next five years what the Bonn conference was for the last four.

I’m here to stress that the international community, the United Nations, will stay the course in the next five years. I have been discussing – with the Afghan authorities, with the mission, with various key international interlocutors – how we can best serve Afghanistan. And of course I am aware that there are many challenges ahead. The starting point at the end of 2001 was a very low one and so there is a huge amount of work that remains to be done, whether it be security, whether it be governance, whether it be development – to use the three key pillars of the compact.

I think that we will do the job because there is a strong partnership now between the Afghan people and the international community and the United Nations. I am prepared to recommend to the Secretary-General when I go back to New York that we really continue the effort in the best possible way.

I think for a lot of countries it is going to be a very important moment, because it is going to be the moment when the international community and the Afghan people come together to chart the course for those next five years.

Our role in the United Nations will be, as we have been in the last four years, will be the impartial, honest advocate of the Afghan people. Sometimes disagreeing – and we all speak frankly, as Mr. Brahimi and Mr. Arnault have been when it is needed – very often agreeing, because who knows better what is needed for the future of Afghanistan than the people of Afghanistan. But always trying to be impartial, to be honest and to make sure that this considerable international effort is coordinated in an intelligent and constructive way that serves the needs of the Afghan people.

Questions and Answers

Question: As you are aware NATO’s foreign ministers have recently endorsed a plan to expand ISAF from 10,000 to 16,000 troops mainly in the southern parts of the country. According to ISAF’s spokesperson they will work as Provincial Reconstruction Teams in those areas and there are reports saying there are about 4,000 US troops that will go home by 2006. How do you think this challenge should be dealt with?

Under-Secretary-General: I think it is very important that on the security front the international community also stay the course. I have discussed it with the leadership of ISAF. This afternoon I will meet with the commander of the Coalition Forces. I think that as ISAF takes on new responsibilities in Afghanistan it will be important to maintain the same level of support for the security of Afghanistan. This is essential. I think the Coalition Forces and ISAF have done a remarkable job and we wouldn’t have made the progress that we have made without their great contribution. It’s important now to continue the effort. The Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police are making progress, but they still need our support and this support should be forthcoming.

Question: At the crossings, mainly in the south and east, insurgents continue to penetrate from there in order to deteriorate the security situation, what should be ISAF’s role in safeguarding those crossings?

Under-Secretary-General: I think I would rather have ISAF answer operational questions like that. What is important in the south is to continue both the military and political efforts to make sure the Anti-Government Elements do not have support in the population. I think it’s important also on the issue of the border that Afghanistan and Pakistan continue to work closely together to address any issue of that nature.

Question: Given your visit and your role, is there any intention in the future for the United Nations to take any role at all in peacekeeping in Afghanistan?

Under-Secretary-General: Nobody suggested that the United Nations take a peacekeeping role in Afghanistan but I think everybody recognizes the important role being performed by the Coalition Forces and ISAF. I think there is a very strong request on the part of the Afghans that the UN continue to play the central role in moving the political process forward, helping with the coordination of the international effort, being that impartial actor that brings together, but no request for a military role.

Question: (translated from Dari) Part of your mission is to assess the performance of the other UN agencies in Afghanistan in the past few years. One of the complaints that many people have been making is that the international assistance has not been properly used in Afghanistan. For example the capital of this country, Kabul, does not have proper roads. What do you think the problem has been and how do you assess the use of the international assistance in Afghanistan?

Under-Secretary-General: A lot has been done I think by the international community. I was reminded this morning of the huge effort in building roads across the country so that communities that were cut off from markets now have the possibility, because roads have been built, to link up with other communities. This is a major progress. At the same time we are all aware that we have a long way to go. There is still a lot of work to be done and I hear the sense of urgency from the Afghan people up front. I think in the next phase of the international engagement in Afghanistan it is important to strengthen the coordination of international efforts and in that respect I think the creation of a structure to coordinate with the Afghan government. I think that will help very much. We have seen examples where programmes run by the Afghan government, when they are well targeted, can have a real impact. So there is a question of money, but there is also a question of focus. And in the next phase there is a commitment of the United Nations to work closely in partnership with the Government of Afghanistan to bring the level of transparency that will make the efforts of the international community more effective and also that would increase the central role that the Afghan government has to play in developing an Afghan National Development Strategy.

Question: (translated from Dari) I do agree with you that a lot of work has been done, but one of the main problems has been the lack of transparency and the low quality of some of the projects that have been implemented and some people have complained that UN-related agencies, or their projects, the staff working with those projects get very high salaries and if they got lower salaries the money that would be allocated to these projects would be better spent.

Under-Secretary-General: I think you raise a very delicate issue and I don’t want to be drawn into technical issues, but I think the way the international community engages –and there there has to be also coordination beyond the UN so to speak so the international community does not compete with itself. We have to make sure that the money is used in the best possible way, not creating an artificial price inflation, salary inflation, and really get the best use of money. And that is an issue that the greater transparency that we would like to achieve could be addressed through that greater transparency.

Question: Do you have any concerns about the United States’ plans to cut troops at a time when NATO (rest of question is inaudible)?

Under-Secretary-General: As I said, I will meet with the US command this afternoon and I have no reason to believe that there will be any gap between the US deployment and the deployment of ISAF forces. I think it would be very important to have a continuum and a solid engagement of the International security presence in Afghanistan and I will make that point very clear.

Question: (translated from Dari) Some government officials believe that most of the money assisted to Afghanistan is spent by the UN agencies and NGO’s themselves rather than being provided to the Afghan government. What is your reaction to this?

Under-Secretary-General: One of our goals in the next five years is that more and more money - and the UN is just part of the picture, I mean the real issue is the broader engagement of the international community - and that more money is spent by the international community, whether it be the UN or bilateral donors, go through the budget of Afghanistan. Now this is not yet possible because the structures of the Afghan state are still not consolidated. I think it is a key priority to consolidate those structures so that the Afghan government has direct control over the funds that are provided by the international community, but this will be a gradual process. In the meantime bringing more transparency, both at the national level and at the provincial level on international aid, can be a very good way to make sure that Afghan officials and Afghan governments will have a greater say in allocating priorities so that the funds are disbursed in accordance with the priorities of the Afghan government.

If there are no further questions I would now like to take the opportunity to announce the appointment of Ambassador Christopher Alexander as the new Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General (DSRSG), along with Ameerah Haq, the other DSRSG. This is an illustration of the strong commitment that the United Nations is making to Afghanistan. We want to keep making a strong team here, so now we will have two strong DSRSG’s supporting the SRSG and I think that is another sign of the way we want to continue to be strongly involved, and strongly engaged in Afghanistan.

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