Monsieur….

Mesdames et messieurs,

Permettez-moi tout d’abord de vous remercier pour cette invitation. Je vous féliciter pour la présence au Sommet du Millénaire a Montréal d’orateurs distingues qui apportent non seulement beaucoup d’expériences personnelles mais aussi des point de vues académiques et professionnelles important.

I am not an expert in the field of post-conflict development and reconstruction, but as my friend Nigel Fisher, who spent part of his career at the UN working on such matters in Afghanistan, is witness, Afghans have gained some insight over the past few years into what works best for them… and what does not. That is why in 2006 we agreed with the donors on a blueprint to rebuild the country called the Afghanistan Compact.

Let’s not forget that starting in the late 1970s, having undergone several stages of political upheavals, the Soviet military invasion, a period of war that produced over a million deaths and six million refugees, the collapse of the socio-economic order, a civil strife and, finally, a period of tyranny and oppression under the Taliban- Al-Qaida rule, Afghans are tired and want to put the past behind by focusing on rebuilding their lives and their country. Let’s also not forget that we started this process from the ground up, at point zero, with twenty five years of lost opportunities behind us. And to expect that this gigantic job of putting a failed state back on its feet can be accomplished within a few short years flies in the face of reality.

I want to highlight two of the strategic blunders that caused a failed state to emerge, because we do not want to repeat the same mistakes: one, during the 1980s, when Afghans were in the midst or resisting the Soviet aggression, not only was the seed of extremism sown, but it was reinforced and promoted at the regional level at the expense of more traditional, representative and moderate forces, in other words, the wrong people were empowered, and to this day we are paying for that blunder; and two, when one phase of the conflict ended, instead of stepping in and seeking a serious political settlement to put the pieces of a destroyed and fragmented nation back together, the world walked away and abandoned Afghanistan, thus creating a dangerous vacuum that was filled by greedy regional players and the resurgent radical forces in the form of Taliban, Al Qaida and others. It took a catastrophic event such as 9-11 for the world to realize the gravity of such negligence.

Pour le peuple de l’Afghanistan dont le gouvernement à invité la communauté internationale à aider à stabiliser et reconstruire une nation détruite apres presque trois decennie de conflits, c’est une mission simple et sans équivoque. Nous savons qui sont les instigateurs de violence et de destruction et quelles sont leurs buts. A l’unisson, les Afghans rejettent un retour à la loi par procuration d’extrémistes et de terroristes.

Six years have elapsed since the ouster of the Taliban from power and the start of the rebuilding effort in Afghanistan. During these past years, the Afghans are once again exercising sovereign rights and are nurturing a young fragile democracy, revitalizing various parts of their socio-economic landscape, revamping their institutions at the national and sub-national levels, reconnecting with the region and the world and laying the foundation for a better tomorrow for new generations.

Afghanistan is a country once again where women can reach their potential as citizens, millions of girls and boys have access to education, more than four and a half million refugees have returned home, a dynamic and free media is burgeoning, and economic growth is almost double digit for the fifth year straight.

Among some of the positive indicators, more Afghans now have access to health and education than ever before in our history. We have cut child mortality rate, one of the highest in the world, by almost 30 percent. As a result, over 90,000 more children remain alive today. The latest figures also show that for the first time in forty years, Afghanistan is once again set to become self sufficient in cereal production.

The international community, including Canada and the NGO and humanitarian communities, deserve much praise and appreciation for helping us invest in some of these areas. For some, like Canada, these accomplishments have come at a high cost, especially in terms of human lives. Afghans are not only grateful but also aware of the burden sharing complexities that exist.

There are, however, reasons for the existence of obstacles and challenges that hamper our efforts and continue to cost lives, yours and ours. Besides the existing threat of a return by radical militants, the drug business is one serious obstacle, mostly effecting a third of the border provinces, using about 5% of the country’s arable land. The insurgency and narcotics are intrinsically linked with criminal elements inside and outside the country. We are working on a strategy to help the farmers through rural development and with incentives to move towards other means of livelihood or alternative crops, and provide disincentives when they don’t. The use of forced eradication or chemical spraying does NOT constitute a constructive disincentive, but interdiction and prosecution of drug traffickers and corrupt officials do. Since the drug trade also involves consumer societies, improved border management cooperation on drug control at the regional and international levels must also be a part of the emerging strategy.

By no means can we allow foreign terrorist and suicide brigades to re-establish themselves on Afghan soil. We are doing our utmost to engage our neighbors in forging mutually beneficial conditions for security and economic development. It is obvious to the Afghans that nurturing Talibanization or radical militancy is counterproductive, and we are seeing the dire consequences at the regional level today. We hope to work together with our neighbors and others toward creating the conditions for moderation, democracy and development to replace extremism, violence, intolerance and under-development.

Afghanistan remains fragile and the rebuilding of institutions and infrastructure is still in infancy stages. Security is the number one concern. To the extent that terrorism fuelled by regionally-based extremism remains a threat, our citizens, yours and others across the world will not be safe. As the despicable attacks this week in the northern province of Baghlan demonstrated, no one, including school children and parliamentarians, is immune from terror. While we build schools and clinics, the insurgents try to burn them to the ground. They think they are doing the right thing. The Afghans are not impressed. We should find the appropriate solutions to challenge and remedy this fanatical mindset that allows the burning of schools and the killing of teachers and students with impunity.

As victims of radicalism and terrorism that is not homegrown in Afghanistan, we are convinced that the threat can only be overcome if addressed across its regional and international dimensions. That is why what happens in our neighborhood has a direct linkage to our security and to your security as a member of NATO deployed in Afghanistan under an UN mandate.

Recently at the UN, President Karzai called for a redoubling of efforts aimed at enabling the Afghan national security institutions, both the Army and the Police, to take a leading role in protecting our country.

At a special high level meeting during the 62 nd Session of the General Assembly this year, the international community underlined the need for sustained international efforts to support Afghanistan to gradually assume responsibility for its own security and development, alongside a central and impartial role by the United Nations.

The participants also focused on improving strategic coordination across four main areas: security and counter-terrorism, regional cooperation, counter-narcotics, and governance.

They also noted that “the restoration of security cannot be solved by military means alone, and pledged to improve civil and military coordination in order to ensure that security gains were consolidated through the establishment of government institutions, including law enforcement, and the provision of development assistance. We pledged to work harder towards the implementation of an Anti-Corruption Action Plan, the extension of the rule of law and ensuring respect for human rights.

In September 2000, when the Millennium Summit was held at the UN, Afghanistan was still in a state of war under the Taliban. Only since March 2004, when President Karzai endorsed the MDGs has Afghanistan been able to begin planning its contribution to the global task.

Afghanistan's Human Development Index is among the lowest in the world. The baseline indicators for the MDG goals in Afghanistan sketch a portrait of a nation and people deeply wounded by war, but struggling to restore basic security, human and civic rights, livelihoods and dignity.

The report shows that the as one of the poorest countries, with depleted resources and capacities, we are committed to build a better future and mobilise as much of our own resources as possible to meet the minimum set of MDG goals and targets.

The Afghan Government has articulated its overarching goals for the well-being of its people in the Afghanistan Millennium Development Goals Country Report 2005 – Vision 2020. Consistent with those goals, the Afghanistan Compact of 2006 I mentioned earlier identifies three critical and interdependent areas or “pillars” of activity for the five years from the adoption of this Compact ending in 2011:

1. Security; 2. Governance, Rule of Law and Human Rights; and 3. Economic and Social Development. A further vital and cross-cutting area of work is eliminating the narcotics industry.

The Afghan Government committed itself to realizing this shared vision of the future; the international community, in turn, committed itself to provide resources and support to realize that vision.

The Afghan Government and the international community are further committed to improving the effectiveness of the aid being provided to Afghanistan in accordance with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2005) recognising the special needs of Afghanistan and their implications for donor support. The Donors will:

• Provide assistance within the framework of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy. Programmes and projects will be coordinated with Government in order to focus on priorities, eliminate duplication and rationalise donor activities to maximise cost-effectiveness;
• Increasingly provide more predictable and multi-year funding commitments or indications of multi-year support channeled through the core budget to enable the Government to plan better the implementation of its National Development Strategy.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Afghans have shown great capacity to survive and cope with hardships that might cause others to despair. In the past few years, under the harshest challenges, the Afghan people have re-established and started to reform their historic national and sub-national institutions.

No rebuilding and security operation is winnable without popular support. We have the Afghan public behind us, but it can be weakened if we do not deliver more vigorously on many fronts.

According to recent polls, the Afghan people are optimistic and hopeful about their future, but they cite security, governance and the economy as the largest problems areas in the country. There is almost no support for terrorists and Taliban, while there is relative confidence in the elected Karzai Government. They also approve of the international presence, military, humanitarian, developmental and diplomatic.

There are many ways of rebuilding a disrupted weak state with strong society. We need to adjust our strategy and apply the concept of lessons learned as we move forward. There is a strong push to “Afghanize” the rebuilding programmes to bring local communities into the decision-making and management spheres.

We can overcome the challenges by checking the insurgency via political and military tactics, and changing the regional dynamics that fuel it, through sustainable state-building and socio-economic programmes and by ensuring domestic and international confidence and support.

Quick results in all areas are not feasible. However, neglecting or abandoning Afghanistan once again not only dangerously increases global security risks, embolden the other side, but will also leave a failed legacy to future generations. Success is the only viable option in this case.

Je vous remercie de nouveau pour cette occasion pour vous avoire addresser aujourd’hui.