It is an honour and a pleasure to join you here today, for the first meeting of the Afghanistan Implementation Group. May I express my warmest congratulations to our hosts, the Interim Administration, and in particular Minister Arsala for the excellent preparation of this meeting – a major international donors conference, which is taking place in Kabul less than 4 months after the transfer of power.

I think that we are all aware that a country that has suffered this degree of destruction cannot be rebuilt without external assistance.

Four months have gone by and it is gratifying to see that the international community remains intensely engaged in this country’s fate. There is, I believe, sincere sympathy for the suffering that the people of Afghanistan have endured for over two decades, and this sympathy has given rise to great generosity.

But just as the Afghan people learned from the past and seized the opportunity presented in Bonn, the international community has, I hope, also learned that the failure to remain constructively engaged in Afghanistan can have dire global consequences.

I am confident that today’s meeting will demonstrate that we have learned this lesson in full – and that we will stay the course in Afghanistan and resist the temptation to pull out before the job is done.

Significant achievements have been made by this very young Afghan Interim Administration, led so very ably by Chairman Karzai. In a matter of months, the Interim Administration has managed to pay civil service salaries in thirteen provinces of Afghanistan, including Kabul, and teams have already been sent to other provinces. A recurrent budget has been produced and a development budget is to be finalized within the next two months.

A successful “back to school campaign” was launched by Chairman Karzai the day after the Afghan new year, enabling 1.7 million Afghan boys and girls to return to school – a remarkable feat for a country whose educational infrastructure had been seriously damaged over the course of 23 years of conflict.

The Interim Administration has adopted very strong measures to eradicate illegal drug cultivation and trafficking and these measures are now being implemented. I am delighted that Chairman Karzai stated that the composition of the Civil Service Commission will be announced shortly. Progress is also being made on the establishment of the Civil Service, Human Rights and Judicial Commissions provided for in Bonn.

And support for the peace process remains very strong, as evidenced by the enthusiastic crowds that have turned out throughout the country to meet Chairman Hamid Karzai wherever he has gone. Equally significant is the welcome of support given to the members of the Special Independent Commission for the Loya Jirga, which was established within the extremely tight deadline set forth in Bonn, and has made significant progress toward the convening of the Emergency Loya Jirga in June.

Today, Chairman Karzai has clearly articulated the priorities of the Interim Administration, which are detailed in the “National Development Framework”. This Framework is intended to be a living document which will endure and evolve, as Afghanistan’s recovery and development goals likewise evolve. The vision it sets forth is sound and realistic. In spite of the devastating damage that the country’s infrastructure, institutions and workforce have experienced, the Interim Administration proposes to build upon its modest but existing structures, and capitalize on the potential of the Afghan people.

And yet, despite these significant achievements by the Interim Administration, the lot of most Afghans has not improved measurably over the past few months. Jobs remain scarce, adequate shelter, food and fuel beyond the bare minimum are still luxuries for most, and healthcare and education are largely unattainable for the vast majority.

Security remains of serious concern in many parts of the country, and although the population has widely welcomed the International Security Force (ISAF) and pleaded for its expansion beyond Kabul, this has not happened.

In short, most Afghans have not yet seen the dividends of peace. At the same time, the Bonn Agreement, the Tokyo conference and the large number of foreign delegations and
organisations either present in or passing through Kabul with promises of assistance, have built up enormous expectations.

As each day passes, the life of the Interim Administration grows shorter, while the pressure on it to deliver grows stronger. The people of Afghanistan can no longer sustain themselves on the promise of peace, as they did in the days and weeks after Bonn. They have real needs and these needs must now be addressed.

The time has come for the international community to fulfill the pledges made in Tokyo and write out its cheques, enabling the Interim Administration to begin implementation of the projects that we all have been promising. This is the only way to ensure that the people of Afghanistan feel the concrete improvements in their lives that are needed to nurture their faith in peace.

The Interim Administration has formulated and clearly articulated its priorities. We, the international community, must be guided by these priorities, and not our own, in every initiative that we consider and in every programme that we implement in Afghanistan.

We must acknowledge that, unorthodox as it might be to fund an army and a police force, the establishment of well-trained, properly equipped national security forces is an absolute priority right now, and is the only way to bring about the security for which the Afghan people yearn and which is indispensable if this country is to be reconstructed.

We must also accept that the only way to encourage the many remaining armed elements in the society to lay down their arms is to fund the reconstruction projects which the Interim Administration has identified for the demobilisation and reintegration of former combatants.

More generally, it is important that the International Community does respond to the plea to fund recurrent costs, so that the Interim Administration can perform the basic minimum functions of government in areas such as healthcare and education, paying the salaries of its employees and providing security and protecting human rights.

We must finance public works and other mass employment projects that will have an economic impact on large segments of the population. In the area of gender rights, we must accept that the best way to improve the lives of girls and women, and ensure their ability to participate freely in society, is to demobilize the armed forces, make education and healthcare widely accessible and encourage the expanded role of women in the workforce – not through the traditional “gender projects” which we have been accustomed to carrying out in other countries.

And finally, we must heed the warning of our Afghan colleagues who encourage us not to focus all of our attention on Kabul, at the expense of the long neglected provinces, where the needs are so great.

I am sure that you will all agree with me that the way for all of us to contribute to a stable political process is to signal our faith in the Interim Administration of Afghanistan by responding to the priorities they have identified. We must avoid playing into the hands of those who reject peace, and who hope to witness the failure of the Interim Administration.

What has been done over the past three months shows that success is possible in Afghanistan, and definitely within the reach of this Administration and its international partners. Your meeting today will, I hope, be an important step toward the shared goals of peace and stability, security, national unity and reconstruction in Afghanistan.

Thank you.