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Mr. President,
Your Excellency Secretary General,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Not very far from here stood two towers that symbolized freedom, prosperity
and progress. Half way around the globe stood two magnificent Buddha's
that represented a culture of tolerance and a nation with a rich history.
These symbols have been linked together through the global scourge of
terrorism. Terror may have demolished these physical structures, however
it strengthens the willpower of the international community never to let
down the spirit and determination with which these icons were built. Terrorism
and violence are against the teaching of Islam, a religion that stands
for peace, respect for human dignity, dialogue, and tolerance. The Talibane,
who destroyed our country and cultural heritage, did not represent Afghans
and we do not consider the AI Qaida to represent the Arab world, and neither
one represents Islam.
The Afghan people, as the prime victims of war and violence and the front
line fighters against terrorism, particularly appreciate, honor and admire
the friendly hand extended to them by the United States of America and
other members of the Anti-tenor Coalition and the International Security
Assistance Force, the United Nations family of organizations, particularly
H.E Secretary General Kofi Annan, and Ambassador Lakhdar Barahimi, the
Special Representative of Secretary General, for their tremendous support
to Afghanistan in this critical juncture of the Afghan history.
Mr. President, I am honored to have this opportunity to highlight some
of the achievements of my administration during the short course of the
past eight months.
The implementation of the Bonn Agreement and the peace process in my country
is completely on track. In accordance with the terns of the Bonn Agreement,
the people of Afghanistan manifested their robust resolution and solid
consensus for democracy and rule of law by gathering under one tent to
convene the Emergency Loya Jirga, the Afghan Grand Council, on June 11
through June 17, 2002. The success of the Loya Jirga, with broad and unprecedented
participation of women, was a significant milestone in the recent history
of Afghanistan, and a major step forward in the process of peace, stability
and nation building. During the proceeding of the Loya Jirga, hundreds
of delegates exercised their rights to express freely their opinions and
desires for security, peace, national unity, reconstruction, democracy
and good governance. The people of Afghanistan told me univocally of their
disdain of war and violence. The Loya Jirga demonstrated that after 23
years of imposed wars, foreign interventions, violence, bloodshed, repression,
destruction and subversion. Afghans are on the way to enjoy the peace
and to benefit from reconstruction and are determined to take every measure
to avoid a relapse into warlordism and lawlessness.
As
a result of the back to school campaign, three (3) million children,
boys and girls, have returned to school.
The strong commitment of the government to the eradication of poppy
cultivation and destruction of narcotics resulted in destruction of
drugs with an estimated street value of eight (8) billion Dollars.
As a sign of stability and security, over 1.6 million refugees and hundreds
of thousands of internally displaced peoples have returned to their
homeland and places of origin.
We have formed a Constitutional Commission to undertake the historic
task of drafting the country's new Constitution. We have already established
a Judicial Commission; to rebuild the Afghan justice system, as well
as a Civil Service Commission to reform the entire administration and
impose a merit based system, and a Human Rights Commission, to protect
human rights, women rights and civil liberties. We have adopted a series
of laws and decrees to promote and attract domestic and international
investments, safeguard property rights and others pillars of the free
market economy; combat narcotics, and protect forest and the environment.
Despite these achievements, we are realistic about countless challenges
and problems that we are confronted with. Foremost among these is security,
which is the principal demand of the Afghan people, and the most fundamental
requirement for sustainable peace. It is our position that the real
key to the restoration of sustainable security lies in the creation
of a national army and a national police force, along with a comprehensive
demobilization program. We have established a Commission for the formation
of national army. I have highlighted the establishment of the national
army and police force as top priority and the main objective for my
government; but the people of Afghanistan need a clear commitment and
sustained support from the international community to realize these
objective. We appreciate the contributions of our American, British,
German, Turkish and French friends in training our national army and
police force, and the Government of Japan for its assistance in demobilization
programs. I would like to once again request the donor countries to
further support our strategy for the creation of a national army and
a national system for security by translating international pledges
into concrete contributions.
The Afghan delegates that regularly visit us in Kabul from various provinces
to exchange ideas with our administration strongly request the expansion
of ISAF to other parts of the country. They want to be certain that
Afghanistan will not be once again left alone by the international community.
We owe a particular debt of gratitude to the donor community for its
assistance to Afghanistan, but would like to remind our friends that
the majority of the financial pledges made to Afghanistan in Tokyo Conference
are still unfulfilled. We have presented the donor countries with the
National Development Framework to indicate our priorities, help manage
the reconstruction programs effectively, and channel financial resources
to national capacity building. It is our position that the consolidation
of peace and stability depends on the international community's sustained
engagement in providing funding for reconstruction. Implementation of
labor-intensive projects throughout Afghanistan has a direct influence
on security and demobilization of combatants. Despite these facts, the
level of direct financial support provided to the Afghan Government
can be characterized as insufficient, considering the generosity of
donors at Tokyo Conference, where over $4.5 billion was pledged to support
Afghanistan. The Afghan people urgently need the pledges in Tokyo to
be turned into cash.
While we agree that there is still a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan,
I would like to request the international community to focus more on
reconstruction, to support long-term recovery efforts, and to treat
the causes of poverty, not its symptoms. Building highways and repairing
the road networks in Afghanistan is an important undertaking with significant
economical, political and social impact for the Afghan people. It creates
jobs, helps with security and demobilization, provides better connectivity,
strengthens national unity and assists with the reintegration of Afghanistan
into the regional economy. Yet, the donor community is slow to answer
to our repeated demand for reconstruction of highways.
Mr. President, while the world has now clearly voiced its unity to honor
the dignity of life and reconstruction over terror, destruction and
subversion, the threat posed by the terrorist groups require resolute
commitment on the part of all nations to fight this evil to the end.
I have warned the world before the September 1 I tragedy about the dangers
of terrorism. Afghan people have suffered tremendously in the hand of
Taliban and terrorist groups. They killed many thousands people, destroyed
villages and burned orchards. Afghanistan is a Muslim country and the
people of Afghanistan truly believe in the teaching of Islam, which
is based on peace, justice, equality, moderation and tolerance, and
reject arty abuse and misuse of the holy name of Islam by the extremist
groups to justify violence, death and destruction. My vision of Afghanistan
is of a modern State that builds on our Islamic values promoting justice,
rule of law, human rights and freedom of commerce, and forming a bridge
between cultures and civilizations; a model of tolerance and prosperity
based on the rich heritage of the Islamic civilization.
Afghanistan is committed to continue to have friendly relationship with
its neighbors and the international community and to be a resilient
partner in the war against terrorism. The establishment of security
and prosperity within Afghanistan is a means of promoting security and
prosperity in the region and the world. We do not want to live in the
past, and are determined not to let the events of the past harm our
relations with our neighbors. We extend a sincere hand of friendship
to all our neighbors on the basis of mutual respect for sovereignty,
territorial integrity, independence and non-interference in the internal
affairs of each other. We will never permit our soil to be used for
any subversive activities against any of our neighbors and countries
in the region, and we expect the same.
We are deeply concerned about the loss of innocent lives in Palestine
and Israel. We strongly support the realization of the right of self-determination
of the people of Palestine. We are also concerned about the dispute
between our friends, India and Pakistan. We have good relationship with
both countries. The people of Afghanistan know the high price of war
and violence and are yearning for peace, stability and prosperity in
the region. They know that a peaceful resolution of the issues between
Pakistan and India is an urgent necessity to consolidate peace and security
in the region and the world at large.
In conclusion, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate
Switzerland for joining the family of the United Nations, and extend
my appreciation to Iran and Pakistan for having accepted millions of
Afghan refugees, and donor countries, organizations and people that
have assisted Afghanistan.
Thank you, Mr. President.
New York, 12 September 2002
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