Ottawa – On the eve of the NATO summit in Riga, Latvia, His Excellency President Hamed Karzai and The Right Honourable Prime Minister Stephen Harper, reiterated their strong commitment to NATO’s security assistance role in Afghanistan, alongside Afghan national security forces, in fighting international terrorism and extremism.

In a phone conversation Monday, President Karzai appraised Prime Minister Harper of new developments in the security and reconstruction fields, especially in the South of Afghanistan, and thanked Canada for helping secure districts that are now the focus of development projects.

در این صحبت تیلیفونی نخست رئیس جمهور کشور از پذیرای و استقبال گرمی که مردم و پارلمان کانادا درجریان سفر اخیرش از آنکشور به عمل آورده بودند، تشکر کرد و بخاطر کشته شدن دوتن از عساکر کانادایی که امروز د قندهار صورت گرفت، به صدارعظم کانادا و مردم آنکشور ابراز تسلیت و همدری نمود. ـ

سپس صدراعظم کانادا با تاکید بر ادامه کمک های کشورش از حمایت قوی خود از افغانستان در اجلاس سران سازمان ناتو در ریگا پایتتخت لتویا اطمینان داد. ـ

در این صحبت تیلیفونی دوجانب در مورد تقویت نهاد های افغانستان و بخصوص تسریع پروسه تقویت و تجهیز اردو و پولیس ملی نیز گفتگو و تاکید نمودند. ـ

HONOURABLE MEMBERS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
GOOD MORNING,

PLEASE ALLOW ME TO THANK MINES ACTION CANADA FOR EXTENDING THIS INVITATION TO TALK TO YOU TODAY ABOUT AN ISSUE THAT IS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE TO MY COUNTRY.

I ALSO WANT TO EXPRESS MY APPRECIATION FOR CANADA’S LEADERSHIP IN PUTTING TOGETHER THE INTERNATIONAL LANDMINE TREATY, ALSO KNOWN AS THE OTTAWA TREATY

WE ARE HERE TODAY TO TALK ABOUT LANDMINES AND CLUSTER MUNITIONS. MY COUNTRY HAS BEEN A VICTIM OF BOTH DEVICES AS FAR BACK AS THE EARLY 1980s WHEN SOVIET FORCES INDISCRIMINATELY USED A VARIETY OF MUNITIONS AND WEAPONS AGAINST AFGHANS. I REMEMBER REPORTS OF CLUSTER BOMBS THAT WERE SHAPED LIKE BUTTERFLIES AND TOYS, ATTRACTING CHILDREN, SCATTERED AROUND THE COUNTRY.

Ottawa – Omar Samad, the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Canada, issued the following statement Friday on the occasion of National Remembrance Day 2006:

“On behalf of the people and Government of Afghanistan, I join Canadians on Remembrance Day to pay tribute to the brave men and women who gave their lives to uphold human dignity, freedom and democratic values in post-Taliban Afghanistan. We pay our respect by honoring their memories and bravery, and by saluting them for their dedication to help other less fortunate people in a foreign land.

We also express our sympathies to their families and loved ones, and wish a healthy recovery for the soldiers who received injuries during these ongoing missions.