Recovery & Reconstruction: Achievements
and Opportunities
Remarks by Ambassador Said T. Jawad
2003 Afghanistan America Summit on Recovery and Reconstruction
11/10/2003
Thank you very much Madam Under Secretary for
your kind words.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Just a few months ego, a girls’ school in
province of Logar, south of Kabul, was set on fire by terrorists.
The Moghul Khail School, consisting of two large tents, was
set ablaze at midnight. The next day, every little girl, every
student of Mughul Khail showed up at the school. They sat next
to the ashes of their burned out class rooms, under the blazing
sun, and insisted on continuing with their lessons. This is
the spirit of the Afghan people, ladies and gentlemen.
Afghans are determined to rebuild their country and President
Karzai and the Afghan government are committed to work with
the United States of America and the international community
to further reinforce peace and stability in Afghanistan. We
need your sustained engagement to completely root out terrorism
from Afghanistan. Our people value the close cooperation and
cherish the enduring partnership forged between our nations.
As Afghan Ambassador, I am honored to start my mission in such
an environment of mutual trust and friendship, and I hope to
contribute to further strengthen our partnership.
The bedrock of our friendship is our common interest to secure
complete victory over terrorism, as a menace to humanity. To
make Afghanistan, the region and the world a safer place. The
basis of our partnership is our shared vision of building a
constitutional state that guarantees the safety, security and
civil liberties of its citizens, promotes prosperity, democracy,
women’s rights, rule of law and self sufficiency. We have
just achieved yet another significant milestone toward realizing
this vision. The first draft of the constitution, after broad
consultation with the Afghan people, has been released. Furthermore,
political parties’ laws are adopted; parties and civic
organizations are being formed, and our elections commission
is preparing the ground for the general election in next summer
under the United Nations auspices.
Since President Karzai’s historic visit
to Georgetown University in July of last year, Afghanistan has
achieved many milestones. Today, tangible results of reconstruction
and infrastructure building are visible throughout the country.
Roads are repaired and refugees have returned at record number.
Almost 4.2 million children, about 40 percent of whom are girls,
are going to school. Millions of textbooks are published. We
have rebuilt 20% of our schools. However, 70% of the existing
schools in Afghanistan need major repairs; and 2,500 additional
schools must be built. Today, only 29% of schools are housed
in buildings. The Moghul Khail school consisted of two large
tents.
Our aim is to reach every Afghan, to empower the
people through reconstruction, and to create an environment
conducive to private sector growth. Afghanistan is open to business,
and we would like to see a higher degree of investment in the
priority areas of housing, road building, transportation, telecommunications,
mining, building small dams, power generation and urban development.
Lack of clean drinking water is a serious problem. Water resources
are inadequate in major cities, and in rural areas, less than
20 percent of the population has access to clean drinking water.
The most fundamental demand of the Afghans people
remains security. We need assistance in enhancing capacity to
secure our borders; to prevent cross border infiltration by
terrorists; to provide security to the little girls of Moghul
Khail School. Our fight against drug production and trafficking
continues. We see a direct connection between, terrorism, narcotics
and warlordism. It is in our absolute national interest to fight
them all. We need financial resources to strengthen our law
enforcement capacity, and to implement forced eradication plans.
The newly formed Afghan National Army and the
National Police Force are gradually assuming their roles in
maintaining security. National police forces are being trained
in the capital and a number of provinces. Expansion of ISAF
and Provincial Reconstruction Teams are very much welcomed by
the Afghan people. These processes must be further expedited.
The demobilization, disarmament and reintegration of former
combatants has begun. The Ministry of Defence has undergone
a complete restructuring to transform it into a more effective
national institution. The economic growth rate is estimated
to reach 30% this year. To sustain and expedite these processes,
the people of Afghanistan collectively call for continued partnership
with, and sustained engagement by the United States of America.
As President Karzai indicated, Afghanistan is a model of cooperation
of civilizations.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are grateful for the additional funding provided
to Afghanistan under the Accelerated Success Program. However,
further assistance is needed to expedite the nationwide process
of reconstruction, establishing good governance, and building
national institutions. We are very grateful for the solid bipartisan
support that our country receives from the United States Congress,
and pleased to see that on our way to recovery we have great
friends at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. I look forward
to working closely with the great friends of Afghanistan on
the Hill.
I would like to express my gratitude to Georgetown University
for hosting this historic summit. Tomorrow is Veterans Day,
and I would like to convey my gratitude to all US and coalition
forces soldiers, who are fighting terrorists, or helping to
rebuild schools, as part of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams
in Afghanistan, giving new hopes, and standing by the brave
girls of the Moghul Khail School.
Thank you, Mr. President.
