Afghanistan, 2002

Not very far from here stood

two towers that symbolized freedom, prosperity and

progress. Halfway around the globe stood two

magnificent Buddhas that represented a culture of

tolerance and a nation with a rich history. These

symbols have now been linked together through the

global scourge of terrorism. Terror may have

demolished these physical structures, yet it served to

strengthened the resolve of the international

community never to abandon 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 Taliban,

who destroyed our country and cultural heritage, did

not represent Afghans, nor does the Al-Qaida represent

the Arab world. Even more, neither one represents

Islam.

The Afghan people, as the prime victims of war

and violence, and the front line fighters against

terrorism, particularly appreciate, honour and admire

the friendly hand extended to them by the United States

of America and other members of the anti-terror

coalition, the International Security Assistance Force

(ISAF), the United Nations Organization, particularly

the Secretary-General Kofi Annan whom I must

thank for his kind remarks and support of Afghanistan

this morning as well as Ambassador Lakhdar

Brahimi, the Special Representative of the Secretary-

General, for their tremendous support to Afghanistan

during this critical juncture of Afghan history.

Sir, I am honoured to have this opportunity to

highlight some achievements of my Administration

during the brief course of the past eight months. First,

the implementation of the Bonn Agreement and the

peace process in my country are quite on track. In

accordance with the terms of the Bonn Agreement, the

people of Afghanistan manifested their robust

resolution and solid consensus for democracy and the

rule of law by gathering under one tent to convene the

emergency Loya Jirga that is the Afghan Grand

Council held on 11 to 17 June 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 right to free

speech and expressed their desire for security, peace,

national unity, reconstruction, democracy and good

governance.

The people of Afghanistan told me univocally of

their disdain for 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 peace and benefit from reconstruction. Hence,

they are determined to take every measure to avoid a

relapse into warlordism and lawlessness.

Secondly, as a result of the back-to-school

campaign, schools that were closed for over six years,

when neither boys nor girls went to school, have

reopened. Three million children from all over the

country, both boys and girls, have returned to school.

Thirdly, the strong commitment of the

Government to the eradication of poppy cultivation and

the destruction of narcotics resulted in the burning of

drugs worth an estimated street value of 8 billion

dollars.

Fourthly, as a sign of stability and security, we

are very glad to have over 1.6 million of our refugees,

who were mainly living in Pakistan and Iran, return

home in a period of less than seven to eight months.

Fifthly, 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, a Civil Service Commission to

reform the entire administration and impose a merit-

based system, as well as a Human Rights Commission

to protect human rights, women's rights and civil

liberties. We have also adopted a series of laws and

decrees to promote and attract domestic and

international investments, safeguard property rights

and other pillars of the free market economy, combat

narcotics, and protect the forests and the environment.

Sixthly, despite these achievements, we are

realistic about countless challenges and problems that

we are confronted with. Foremost among them is

security; a principal demand of the Afghan people, and

the most fundamental requirement for sustainable

peace. It is the position of my Government 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

programme.

We have established a commission for the

formation of a national army. I have also highlighted

the establishment of the national army and police force

as a top priority and the main objective of my

Government; but the people of Afghanistan need a

clear commitment and sustained support from the

international community to realize these objectives.

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 programmes. 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 from various provinces that

regularly come to Kabul to discuss various matters

with our Administration, strongly request the

expansion of the International Security Assistance

Force (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 particular gratitude to the donor

community for its assistance to Afghanistan, but would

also like to remind our friends that the majority of the

financial pledges made to Afghanistan at the Tokyo

Conference are still unfulfilled. We have presented the

donor countries with our National Development

Framework to indicate our priorities, help manage the

reconstruction programmes effectively, and channel

financial resources to national capacity building. It is

the position of my Government that the consolidation

of peace and stability depends on the international

community's sustained engagement in providing

funding for reconstruction.

Implementation of labour-intensive projects

throughout Afghanistan has a direct influence on

security and the demobilization of combatants. Despite

these facts, the level of direct financial support

provided to the Afghan Government can be

characterized as insufficient, especially given the

generosity of donors at the Tokyo Conference, where

over $4.5 billion dollars were pledged to support

Afghanistan. The Afghan people urgently needs 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, rather than its

symptoms. Building highways and repairing the road

networks in Afghanistan is an important undertaking

with significant economic, 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.

While the world has now clearly voiced its unity

to honour the dignity of life and reconstruction over

terror, destruction and subversion, the threat posed by

the terrorist groups requires resolute commitment on

the part of all nations to fight this evil to the end. I

warned the world before the 11 September tragedy

about the dangers of terrorism. The Afghan people

have suffered tremendously at the hands of the Taliban

and terrorist groups. They killed many thousands of our

people, destroyed villages and burned orchards and

vineyards.

Afghanistan is a Muslim country and the people

of Afghanistan truly believe in the teachings of Islam,

which is based on peace, justice, equality, moderation

and tolerance, and reject any abuse and misuse of the

holy name of Islam by 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, the 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 continuing to have

friendly relations with its neighbours and the

12

international community and to being 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 as a whole. 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 neighbours. We

extend a sincere hand of friendship to all our

neighbours 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 neighbours or countries in

the region, and we expect others to do 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 also

support the relevant United Nations resolutions and the

Saudi Arabian-sponsored declarations in Beirut. We are

also concerned about the dispute between our friends

and neighbours, India and Pakistan. We have good

relationships with both those 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 and East Timor

on joining the family of the United Nations, and extend

my appreciation to Iran and Pakistan, our neighbouring

countries, for having accepted millions of our refugees

for over two decades and for having looked after them.

We are very grateful to both these neighbours. We are

also very grateful to the donor countries for having

helped Afghanistan and to the international

organizations that have helped us over the past many

months and years.