International House of Philadelphia: Symposium on Health
Remarks by Ambassador Said T. Jawad
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
11/15/2004
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are honored to be here with you tonight.
Please allow me to take this opportunity to express
my gratitude to every one of you for participating in this wonderful
event tonight.
I would like to thank Mr. Oliver Franklin, Elizabeth
Lowe and the International House of Philadelphia for inviting
me and my wife, Shamim, and Ms. Mariam Nawabi, the Commercial
Attache of the Embassy of Afghanistan to participate in this
Ambassador’s Forum. I also thank Carelift International
for its dedication to helping improve health care system in
Afghanistan.
I also want to express my gratitude to all of
you from Philadelphia’s health care community who are
here tonight to learn more about the situation in my country,
Afghanistan. We look forward to your contribution to help improve
the health care sector in Afghanistan.
I am also grateful to the sponsors of today’s
program, Independence Blue Cross, Med Assets, and Cozen and
O’Conner. This is my second visit to Philadelphia this
year, I feel at home here.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Two years ago, along a dusty road in Kunduz, in
the north of Afghanistan, a young man managed to catch the attention
of President Hamid Karzai by throwing a bouquet of flowers at
his car. When the president glanced his way, the young man pointed
to the pitted road at his feet, and shouted, “Fix the
road!”
That plea symbolized then – and now- the
desire of our nation to rebuild its infrastructure and national
institutions, as it picks itself up from war and destruction.
United States and the international community have responded
to the plea of our people for reconstruction. We are grateful
for this assistance.
We, the government of Afghanistan, have taken many bold steps
toward achieving our shared objectives of building a democratic,
stable and prosperous Afghanistan.
Today, hope, peace, education, and democracy are
replacing despair, destruction, and tyranny in Afghanistan.
Tangible results of reconstruction and infrastructure building
are visible throughout the country. More than 3.2 million refugees
have now returned to their homes. Urban centers are flourishing
and roads are being rebuilt. Almost 5.6 million children, about
40 percent of whom are girls, are now going to school.
We have introduced a new currency, adopted new investment and
banking laws, attracted foreign banks and foreign direct investment,
revived the private sector, removed political censorship from
the media, and connected the country by building roads and telecommunication
systems.
In the past 3 years, we reached an economic growth
rate of 30% in 2002, and 20% in 2003, continued at 15% this
year. New laws on political parties, civic organizations, freedom
of expressions and press have been enacted. Eighteen independent
and privately own radio stations are operating in different
parts of the country, including radio stations operated by women
and for women.
270 newspapers and periodicals, the largest number ever, are
published.
On January 4, 2004, President Karzai signed our new constitution
into law. A constitution that is visionary and balanced, and
guarantees equal rights and full participation of women in all
spheres of life. The new constitution is the most liberal charter
in the region.
In 3 years, the people of Afghanistan, with the
partnership of the international community, turned a neglected
country over-run by the Taliban and Al Qaeda, into what President
Hamid Karzai called “a center for the cooperation of civilizations.”
Afghanistan is emerging as an exemplary model
of success of international partnership. We just achieved another
historic milestone under the constitution by conducting our
first national presidential election.
Two century ego here in Philadelphia a group of
visionary Americans met in a constitutional convention to defend
liberty and prevent tyranny. We are through a similar exercise
today in Afghanistan.
Four months ego on July 4, Philadelphia honored
our President Karzai for his courage, vision and faith in the
pursuit of liberty, peace and democracy by giving him the 2004
Liberty Award.
Two weeks ago the President Karzai was elected
by overwhelming majority as our next President. In an election
that 86% of the eligible voters participated, and 41% were women.
We share the success of this election with US and our partners
in the international community. Every vote cast in Afghanistan
is a vote for democracy and global security.
Let me share some snapshots of the great moment
of our election day:
An 80-year old woman, blind and frail, arriving
at a polling station in Kabul with her grandson said, “I
did not sleep a wink last night. Several times I woke up my
grandson, worrying about the break of daylight and missing the
chance to vote.”
A bride, in her wedding gown, got off a vehicle
and stood in a long line of women waiting to cast their vote.
In many villages, people showed up at polling
stations, in their finest clothes, as if they were participating
in a religious or a national festival.
In Kunar, a rocket landed two hundred yards away
from a long line of women waiting to vote. No one ran away.
They insisted they would remain in line. One woman said, “If
we run away from the terrorists, the rockets will continue to
come. We want to stay here and vote because this is the only
way to stop these terrorists’ attacks forever.”
A 50-year old Afghan told a worker at a polling
station in Kandahar: “Twenty five years of misery have
broken my back. Today I feel like I am reborn.”
Theses wonderful scenes proves that Afghanistan
and the world is becoming a safer place. Afghanistan’s
transition and successful advance on the path to democracy and
state-building will impact the expectations and the aspirations
of the people all over the world.
Ladies and Gentleman,
I discussed our achievements and how far we have
come. We have a long way ahead of us with serious challenges.
We are realistic about our challenges. We face the general challenge
of building a State and providing for good governance, after
complete destruction of all national institutions and a severe
shortage of resources and human capital.
To overcome these challenges we must reform, strengthen
and rebuild our government institutions to make them accountable,
capable, and more professional. We must also improve local and
district level governance, and enhance government capacity to
deliver services to every corner of the country, especially
areas prone to terrorist infiltration.
All Afghans have not yet benefited from the peace
dividends. We must eliminate corruption, nepotism and abuse
of power that undermine our recovery process.
We continue to confront security challenges posed
by the terrorists and other elements. To overcome security challenges
we are working to expedite the process of building our national
army and professional police force, dissolving private militias,
and implementing the demobilization, disarmament and reintegration
of former combatants.
Narcotics pose a serious challenge for all of
us. Cultivation and trafficking of narcotics go hand in hand
with terrorism and warlordism. It is to our best national interest
to fight them all. We are committed to mobilizing all our resources
in the fight against narcotics.
We know heroin, which sells on the retail market
for one hundred times the farm gate price in Afghanistan, is
one of the sources of the illegal money that funds international
terrorism and crime across the region. It also finances the
destabilizing activities of warlords and criminals in Afghanistan.
With your assistance we can overcome these challenges.
A moderate investment commitment of $1 billion per year is needed
for development of human capital to create a literate nation
and provide social protection including social and personal
security and access to basic health services.
Investments of $2.1 billion per year are required
to provide the necessary infrastructure for transportation,
communications, mining, power generation, irrigation, housing
and urban development.
An annual investment of $750 million in enhancing
security, rule of law, and reforming judicial and administrative
sectors are needed to guarantee an environment conducive to
sustainable growth.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Now that the Afghan people have participated very
enthusiastically in the national election, the new president
must live up to the fair expectations of the people.
In six months, Afghans are going to the polls
to choose their parliament. By then, Afghans must feel the tangible
results of their first investment in democracy.
The Afghan people have put their trust in the
benefits of democracy and international partnership. Now it
is up to the new government and the international community
to deliver and prove that this trust is properly placed.
Thank you.
