YouSaid · the spoken record

Brahimi

lines on the record: 382
first: 1992-07-15
most recent: 2021-09-07
sittings or episodes: 17
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Secondly, there must be a firm commitment by all factional and regional leaders - all of whom are members of the National Defence Commission - to integrate their respective armies within the national army through a process which would lead to part of those armies being phased into the national army and the rest being disarmed and phased out. Thirdly, this would further require a comprehensive demobilization and reintegration programme to help current and former combatants to return to a dignified civilian life. Lastly, the training started by the United States, as lead nation, and by France should be integrated within a comprehensive national training programme, in close cooperation with the Ministry of Defence.”
2002-10-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4638 (2002) · source
“With Germany as the lead nation, work is proceeding well as far as the national police is concerned. Things are slower and more complicated with the national army. The National Defence Commission had some useful consultations in September and early October. But the results that it has achieved so far remain unsatisfactory. It is hoped that the Commission will resume its work soon and produce a clear, credible and achievable plan for the formation of the national army. In our opinion, such a plan needs to include several elements. First, the Ministry of Defence must be reformed.”
2002-10-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4638 (2002) · source
“We deplore the heavy toll taken by all of these incidents - more than 50 deaths throughout the country and about the same number of wounded, many of them civilians. Just as deplorable as the clashes between armed groups and the resultant loss of life are all the daily abuses to which the civilian population is subjected in many parts of the country, including Kabul. Speaking at a seminar organized by the Supreme Court last week, President Karzai expressed his frustration and that of the people of Afghanistan in very strong terms, and directed a blunt warning to those who were responsible for the continuing insecurity in the country. There will be no long-term solution to the security problems of Afghanistan unless and until a well-trained, well-equipped and regularly paid national police force and national army are in place.”
2002-10-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4638 (2002) · source
“The Government, with the support of the United Nations, can address only the symptoms; like a fire brigade, the Government's and our interventions aim to put out the local fires, rather than to prevent their occurrence. Once again, the factional leaders in the north - Generals Abdul Rashid Dostum and Atta Mohammad - have been brought together to control those of their commanders who are responsible for the repeated incidents of the past few weeks. The Government has also intervened to stop the fighting between Ismael Khan and Amanullah Khan in the west. In the south-east, it was hoped that the forcible eviction of Pahsha Khan Zadran would put an end to insecurity in the region. This hope proved premature, however, and clashes continue to occur there.”
2002-10-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4638 (2002) · source
“I should like to say how pleased I am, and what an honour it is for me, to take the floor under your presidency, Sir. (spoke in English) The Council has before it a report of the Secretary-General that outlines all the major developments since last July. My briefing will therefore focus on a few key issues, in particular those which have arisen since I last had the privilege of appearing before the Council, on 19 September. As members of the Council know, security remains a priority concern for the people of Afghanistan. Sporadic fighting continues to erupt from time to time, particularly in the north, the south-east and, to a lesser extent, the west. The Government does not yet have the means to deal in an effective manner with the underlying problems which are the cause of such threats to security.”
2002-10-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4638 (2002) · source
“To borrow from the statement of the Secretary- General after the assassination attempt on President Karzai's life and the car bombing, we trust that these setbacks will only strengthen the resolve of the international community and the legitimate Afghan authorities to bring security and stability to Afghanistan. We owe a debt of gratitude to the international community for its sustained interest and its support for Afghanistan, but time is of the essence. In the months following the anniversary of the ll September attacks and in the few weeks before the anniversary of the Bonn Agreement, I hope that the international community will turn its undoubted commitment to Afghanistan into more forceful action.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“This may have bred a little complacency and a sense that the peace process in Afghanistan can be achieved at low cost to the international community. Let the near miss of the attempt on the life of President Karzai, the tragedy of the car bombing in Kabul on 5 September and the expressions of frustration from ordinary Afghans concerning recovery be a wake-up call for all of us, Afghans and internationals alike. The oil tanker carrying explosives that was captured near Kabul on 14 September reconfirms that there are people out there who are intent on continuing the deadly cycle of violence.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“Ensuring the security of potential witnesses, as well as the security of the investigating teams, is, of course, of paramount importance, and, as things stand at the moment, by no means certain. In the face of the many difficulties along the path to the restoration of security and prosperity in Afghanistan, I have been advocating that the international community should show neither panic nor complacency. We have been very lucky in Kabul during the first six months of 2002. None of the rocket attacks recorded between April and June caused any casualties. The people of Afghanistan showed great patience and enthusiasm throughout the Loya Jirga process, in spite of uncertainty about security and economic hardships.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“The Transitional Administration and the Afghan Human Rights Commission have agreed that an investigation of several sites, including one or more where the bodies were presumed to be the victims of the Taliban, should now take place. UNAMA has been in touch with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to ask for assistance in identifying the forensic teams needed to carry out this task. Additional security will be needed from the Government, local authority and the international community to help the investigators carry out this work. A word of caution, however: it will probably - probably - be possible to do the forensic part of the investigation. Whether and when it will be possible to actually conclude the investigation is another matter.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“In the last briefing to the Security Council on Afghanistan, the question of transitional justice was raised in relation to the publicity surrounding the site of a mass grave in Dasht-e-Leili, near Shiberghan. I think it is fairly certain that a large number of people died in - to say the least - suspicious circumstances. Nonetheless, the leaders of the major factions of the north have issued a statement jointly rejecting the allegations that Taliban prisoners suffocated in containers on their way to Shiberghan prison. They also expressed their willingness to cooperate with any investigations, provided that they were carried out by experts in an objective and impartial way. UNAMA's human rights team travelled to the north to seek further information from the signatories of the statement.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“The leaders of Jumbesh and Jamiat in the area, Generals Dostum and Atta, announced that in the future there would be no place for small commanders who fight for personal benefit. In the south-east, Pacha Khan Zadran, who has been a thorn in the Government's side, declared his opposition to President Karzai and his Government's appointed local representatives, but was forced out of Khost when the local governor launched an offensive that succeeded in removing Zadran's forces from the city. Several people died, unfortunately, when the city was rocketed by Zadran's retreating troops, but fighting subsided after three days, on 10 September. The United Nations has now been able to resume its operations in the area.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“Tensions had been particularly acute in the north and the south-east, but within the last few days there have been positive developments in those troubled and troublesome areas. The two main rival factions in the north, Jamiat and Jumbesh, agreed to establish a joint force to tackle violence and instability. The force would disarm all parties involved in fomenting conflict. The long awaited demilitarization of the main northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif started last week. All major commanders present in Mazar have withdrawn outside the city boundaries with their weapons and ammunition. Controls by the police and members of the Security Commission are ongoing, and have resulted in the disarmament of the remaining small detachments.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“It is feeding the hungry, providing clean water to families, attending to the sick, helping kids go to school, and helping refugees and internally displaced persons to return home. It is also working with all Afghans to rebuild what has been destroyed by 23 years of conflict. Afghans of all walks of life understand fully the importance of the United Nations for them and for their country. That is why they spontaneously come, after each incident, to express solidarity and sympathy and to condemn these acts, which they consider as being directed at the people of Afghanistan as a whole. These incidents are of some concern, as is the continuing violence across Afghanistan. While there have been recent sporadic localized clashes in several parts of the country, the situation is now, however, calmer compared to previous weeks.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“Two of these attacks were reported in previous briefings to the Council - that is, the grenade thrown into the compound of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Kandahar on 3 August, and the bomb placed against the wall of the United Nations guest house in Kabul on 25 August. The United Nations Children's Fund's compound in Jalalabad was the target of a rocket attack just two days ago. In these three incidents, a little Afghan girl was wounded in Kabul, and a security guard also suffered injury in the recent attack in Jalalabad. Only once in the past was the United Nations the target of violence in Afghanistan, and that was when Colonel Calo, a military advisor for the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan (UNSMA), was assassinated in Kabul in 1998. The United Nations is serving the people of Afghanistan.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“Before the end of the year, Afghanistan should have a credible and achievable agenda to build a national army and a national police that will progressively take over from the present factional and de facto forces all over the country. This requires demobilizing many of the currently armed elements and helping them to reintegrate into civilian society. It also requires training and inducting new elements, and it requires reorganizing and reforming the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Interior, and the intelligence services. The first two months of the Transitional Administration have seen a proliferation of local conflicts and violence. The United Nations itself has been the target of terrorist acts on three separate occasions these past two months.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“But there is now a growing realization that the efforts of the Afghans in the field of security need to be supported more directly and more effectively and I very much hope that focused discussions will soon take place on this issue in Kabul, with the participation of Afghan authorities, the United Nations and key members of the international community. The rationale behind the need for international cooperation in that regard is very simple: Afghanistan does not have a national army; it does not have a national police; and it will take some time to build both. The Afghans themselves realize that they need to do much better than they have done so far in this regard and a significant part of the work of the Government, in cooperation with the United Nations and other partners, must concentrate in the weeks to come on these issues.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“The communique which was issued by senior ministers last week after the high-level ad hoc meeting on Afghanistan signalled the international community's recognition of the most serious challenge facing Afghanistan today - security. President Karzai and the Secretary-General, along with almost everyone in Afghanistan, have repeatedly called for the expansion of the International Security Assistance Force. This has not been possible. As a result, people in Afghanistan, as well as in neighbouring countries, are disappointed and concerned.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“An increasing number of United Nations personnel are being located in Government offices to support the Transitional Administration in the development of its policies and activities. The United Nations is supporting Government institutions to develop national information, vulnerability analysis and nutrition surveillance systems and to track donor support and aid flows. These are functions that the United Nations itself was performing alone less than 12 months ago. In the coming months, this support should be further developed with an overall capacity-building plan that focuses on civil service reform and the increasing decentralization of integrated United Nations assistance at the provincial level.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“The Minister of Education, for example, has already set the priorities for education for the next 18 months, reinforcing a very simple message: a roof for every school, a textbook for every child, and tables and chairs for every classroom. One aim of the United Nations is to support and help develop the capacity of the Government. The Afghan cabinet and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) are working together to accelerate the development of the Government, to decentralize assistance and develop sub-national programmes tailored to the needs of individual provinces, and to develop a more integrated and cost-effective United Nations response. Progress has already been made and the United Nations is helping national authorities to assume an increasingly central role in the coordination of assistance.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“As part of this process, the Government of Afghanistan will also address the revitalization of the financial and banking systems throughout the country. The United Nations is supporting this process by assisting in the procurement, logistics, planning and monitoring of the operation. I urge the international community to respond positively to the Afghan Administration's request for donor support for this very important nationwide exercise. The Transitional Administration is taking a leadership role in planning for the future and the United Nations is committed to supporting the Government in the development of the national development framework and the national budget in the coming month. Ministers have been encouraged to establish their own vision and priorities.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“It is necessary to accelerate the implementation of nationwide programmes, such as the World Bank- supported National Solidarity Programme, which aims to inject income into communities through large labour-intensive and cash-for-work schemes. The focus of these projects will be on essential economic and social infrastructure, such as the rehabilitation of feeder roads, local water works, schools and health centres. The Transitional Administration needs urgent financial assistance at the moment for its ambitious project of introducing a new currency. Much work has been done already and, if all goes well, the operation will begin early next month. The United Nations believes that the initiative will have a very positive impact on promoting national unity, economic stability and social cohesion.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“Hundreds of thousands more jobs need to be created for comprehensive disarmament and reintegration to be achieved or for viable alternatives to poppy cultivation to be offered. In a stable and safe society, employment-generation on this scale would be expected to result largely from private investment. In the context of Afghanistan today, there is no immediate alternative to international public investment. This may seem an ambitious undertaking. It is, however, the price that, I hope, the international community will help Afghanistan pay for peace and stability. One way of achieving this is through a concerted strategy that links assistance priorities to the requirements of political reconstruction and stability.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“I hope that the donors have heard President Karzai's urgent appeal and I hope that we all remember the comments made in Tokyo by the Secretary-General to the effect that today's millions are worth tomorrow's billions. It is also important to note, again with President Karzai, that most international funding is still going to humanitarian assistance, which is necessary but not quite sufficient to bring back peace and stability to the country. Without massive job creation, the country cannot handle some of the most immediate peace- building tasks. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have to be created to enable impoverished Afghans to earn a living and climb out of debt, and to accommodate the flow of returning refugees, mainly from Pakistan and Iran.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“Major infrastructure projects - in transport and roads, energy and telecommunications, mines and industry, water and agriculture - that can bring jobs, improve economic and trade prospects and facilitate foreign investment require a very significant financial and technical input from outside Afghanistan. Last week's announcement of a $180-million aid package from the United States of America, Japan and Saudi Arabia for road construction is an extremely positive development. We are also heartened by the European Union's pledge to rehabilitate the Kabul to Jalalabad road. But we must remember that, today, the Transitional Administration in Afghanistan lacks the very modest budget required to meet its basic recurrent costs.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“It would have been inconceivable just a year ago to imagine an Afghan President, elected by secret ballot, standing before the General Assembly and outlining a vision of an Afghan State determined to modernize itself, building on the rich heritage of Islamic civilization to promote justice, the rule of law, human rights and freedom - an Afghanistan determined to promote tolerance and achieve prosperity. These are noble and worthwhile objectives, but President Karzai knows better than anyone else - and he said so himself last week on every occasion - that Afghanistan will not achieve these goals without committed, sustained and generous support from the international community. Facing the twin challenges of security and recovery is not something that the Transitional Administration can achieve alone. It simply does not have the resources.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“The assassination attempt on President Karzai on 5 September and the car bombing in Kabul the same day once again illustrate the difficult security environment that the Transitional Administration is facing. It is also a fact that the people of Afghanistan expect real improvement in their daily lives. The prestige and legitimacy of the Transitional Administration will depend, therefore, on its ability to address effectively the most pressing security and recovery needs. Should it fail, fragmentation will become more entrenched, extremism will rise, and then foreign countries, groups and individuals may be drawn once again into the fray and the resumption of widespread violence will most likely ensue. Nevertheless, Afghanistan has come a long way.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“Mr. Brahimi: I am honoured to have been asked to come once again before the Council to brief members on the situation in Afghanistan. It is also an honour for me, Sir, to speak under your presidency. The General Assembly and the gathering of senior ministers from more than 20 nations last Friday in support of Afghanistan offered a timely opportunity for the international community to renew its commitment to Afghanistan and to reflect on what has been achieved and, more important, on what still must be done. Careful stock-taking is required as the Transitional Authority initiates its two-year mandate and begins to grapple with the challenges of consolidating peace in Afghanistan.”
2002-09-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4611 (2002) · source
“We think that the Afghan people deserve that help, that interest and that support, and we count on the Council and its members - as well as on all Members of the United Nations - to stay the course and to do what it takes to bring Afghanistan to the point of no return from peace to conflict.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579Resumption1 (2002) · source
“Again, I am grateful to the representatives of neighbours of Afghanistan and other countries in the region for together realizing the importance of helping to reinforce peace and security in Afghanistan. I believe that they now share our view that the conflict in Afghanistan, if it continues, will not be confined within that country's borders. By the same token, I think that peace, if it is established and reinforced in Afghanistan, will spread its benefits to the neighbouring countries and beyond in the region. I should like to assure the Council that, under the guidance of the Secretary-General, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the United Nations will continue to serve the people of Afghanistan to the best of our ability.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579Resumption1 (2002) · source
“Mr. Brahimi: It has been a long day for the Council, and I shall be very brief. I should just like to reiterate the expression of my appreciation, thanks and gratitude to all those who participated in this debate. Their statements confirm the international community's continued interest in supporting Afghanistan, and that is something we very much welcome. It was a great pleasure to see Mrs. Ogata, a frequent visitor to several areas of Afghanistan, a high- ranking international official and now a distinguished representative of her country. Her statement very much reflected her Government's strong interest, and her own strong interest, in Afghanistan.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579Resumption1 (2002) · source
“Let us follow up on and help the women of Afghanistan; let us not impose on them agendas that will backfire on them if we are not careful. I will come back this afternoon and perhaps, if it is necessary, I will say a little bit more.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“Those 200 women and many others met before the Loya Jirga. My adviser for gender issues took the lead in helping them take part in this Loya Jirga and, more importantly, in creating a network that will assist these women, who are going to return to their towns and villages. They are counting very, very much on that being an important element in trying to help women get jobs and to exercise a few more rights than before. But please - let us, again, work on agendas that are Afghan agendas, for the people of Afghanistan. We cannot put together programmes away from Afghanistan and not keep in mind that we are dealing with a country that is conservative, a country that has traditions, a country that is proud of its traditions.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“He said that the intelligence service must not be an organ that frightens the people of Afghanistan, and that a situation must be created in which the people of Afghanistan can become proud of their intelligence service rather than frightened by it. I think that the project of starting the reform of this body is a very urgent one. It is terribly important to do this, and the Government and President Karzai are calling for support for this effort. I think that it can be provided by the countries that are involved in the security sector reform, under the leadership of the United States, and certainly we as UNAMA will contribute our share to that effort. What structures are in place for women? There is a ministry, and, as many representatives have mentioned, 200 women took part in the Loya Jirga.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“It is ready to do its share, and I think that we must try and help it to do so. We must be very careful in one area: the struggle against drug cultivation and trafficking. This is another area that the hydra of corruption could infiltrate, and I think that Britain, as the lead nation, the Government in Afghanistan and the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) are aware of this. They must remain vigilant and make absolutely certain that they are not led unwittingly into situations where corruption is rife. To go back for one minute to the security sector, I mentioned that one young man was killed last month while being detained by the intelligence service. I said that this was not acceptable, and Karzai also has said several times that this was not acceptable.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“All of these elements must be present, and I think that they can be if we work together with President Karzai, who is extremely supportive of this process, and give him all the support that is needed. President Karzai attaches extreme importance to the question of corruption, and he speaks about it very often. He has spoken about it very strongly in the Loya Jirga, saying that corruption must be uprooted from Afghanistan. In Geneva and in Paris, the new Minister of Finance, Ashraf Ghani, relayed this message from President Karzai, and he told us, for example, that they will see to it that bidding for the mobile telephone system is extremely transparent and ensure that there is no foul play at any level, at any stage, in this field. I think that the Government is aware of this.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“One must start with patient discussions with the authorities in Afghanistan, to make sure that the structures for this national army and this national police are in place - that when people are trained barracks will be ready for them, that when policemen are trained they will be going to units that are waiting for them, that they will be paid, and so on. Therefore I hope very much that next month we will hold these discussions with the authorities and make sure that the structures are there and that all the elements that concern the security sector reform you spoke about, Mr. President, are in place and working together - a demobilization programme; the reintegration of soldiers, whether in or out of the future army and the future police; and the training of the new army.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“President, as I told you earlier, we have heard you and we understand that for the moment there is not much support for this from national Governments. Again, it has been said, quite rightly, around this table that, ultimately, security is the responsibility of the Afghans themselves. The Afghans are very grateful to the Council for supporting them in forming a national police and a national army. The Germans are doing a very good job of being the leaders in that field for the police, and the Americans are also doing a very good job of being the leaders for the army. But one cannot start with training.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“No one was hurt during the process, and we had no protection whatsoever from anyone. That is why I say that people want it and that it is not going to be dangerous. How much do people want it? I think that this was made clear during the Loya Jirga itself. At the end of the Loya Jirga, when medals were given to a few of us, the person who received the most applause was General John McColl. Compare this with all that was said in the beginning - that the British in particular would not be welcome because of history and so on, and that foreigners are not welcome in Afghanistan. I think that we have seen that this is not true at all. The Afghan people can distinguish between armies that come as friends to help and armies that come as conquerors. This is the only thing that I can say about the expansion of ISAF. But once again, Mr.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“Public meetings were held in 400 different places all over Afghanistan - cities, villages, remote places, all over the country. Thousands - and on one occasion 15,000 - participated in those meetings. These political processes are always occasions for confrontation. Yet, all in all, those meetings were more peaceful than meetings in many other, peaceful countries. We had eight unfortunate occasions on which people were killed. Only two of them were clearly related to the Loya Jirga process. The six others happened close to meetings that were being held, and so it was assumed that there was a connection with the Loya Jirga, but it is not so. All in all, 10 people from the United Nations participated in these meetings; each one of them was present in one region. We also had 23 international observers. That is all we had during this process.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“Whether the international community cannot or will not do it is another thing, but I must say that the people there continue to ask for that as a major, significant, important, vital contribution to the maintenance of security. I think I told the Council five months ago that I had the impression that expanding ISAF would not be difficult, expensive or dangerous. Five months later, I think I can say that I feel certain that it is important and that it will be effective. It will not require tens of thousands of soldiers; I think that an additional 5,000 soldiers will do the trick. Thus, it will not be very expensive, and it will not be dangerous. Let me illustrate one point - about the danger. We were terribly concerned that throughout the Loya Jirga process, we were exposing the Afghans and our own people to danger.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“But I think that the Council has taken it upon itself to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and to help the people of Afghanistan as they try to reinforce the very fragile peace that the Council has helped them to achieve. The people of Afghanistan, starting with their President, Mr. Karzai, all consider ISAF to have been a success in Kabul and think that ISAF can help them elsewhere. One of the last people who had reservations concerning the expansion of ISAF is Ismail Khan, and even he said recently that he would welcome the expansion of ISAF. So, as far as the people of Afghanistan are concerned, I think that they want this from the international community.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“Mr. Brahimi: I will try to be brief. But I think I must say how very deeply grateful I am to all those who have taken the floor for their kindness and their generosity in supporting what we are trying to do in Kabul. I will convey this extraordinary and very welcome support to my colleagues, who have, indeed, worked extremely hard and continue to do so in implementing the mission that the Council and the Secretary-General have entrusted to us. There were a few direct questions, which I will try to address, starting with the question of the expansion of the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) and security. This is one of the most important issues. I heard you, Mr. President, and Ambassador Levitte say that there are no countries willing to respond to the request for an expansion.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“The challenge before us now is to prove to the people of Afghanistan that we will not disengage until we have made good on our promises to them, and that we will not allow setbacks to reverse our course. We owe this to the people of Afghanistan and to regional and global security, for we know only too well that instability in that remote part of the world can have repercussions far beyond the borders of Afghanistan.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“But as the peace process moves forward, we must be prepared for further setbacks, and perhaps even crises, for a situation as complex as Afghanistan defies quick and easy resolution. And the response to tragedies such as the assassination of Haji Qadir should be more determined cooperation with the Afghan people and those leaders who, with Hamid Karzai, are dedicated to the peace process. Ashraf Ghani, the new Minister of Finance of Afghanistan, reminded us at the Afghanistan Support Group meeting in Geneva last week that, following the establishment of the Transitional Administration, Afghanistan is at a crossroads. We have encountered many other crossroads in the months since Bonn, and I hope that we have taken the right turn most of the time.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“The late Haji Abdul Qadir played an extremely positive role during the Loya Jirga, and the support he provided in his native J alalabad was decisive in making the preparatory phases there highly successful. We had been looking forward to his contribution in the next stage of the peace process, as Vice-President of the Transitional Administration. He will be sorely missed. His tragic assassination serves as a reminder that, whatever successes may have been witnessed so far in Afghanistan, a single act or event can send fear down the spines of the most powerful people in Afghanistan and has the potential to seriously destabilize the situation. So far we have been lucky, for there have been few such events.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“A core element of UNAMA's role during the next 18 months will be assisting in building national capacity and confidence in governance systems so that international assistance will indeed flow more directly to the Afghan Administration and civil society organizations, making the United Nations presence lighter and more effective. This has already been accomplished in the field of demining, and it sets a very strong and encouraging example for the rest of the United Nations family. In order to achieve this across the board, we plan to give maximum emphasis to supporting capacity development within central and provincial administrations, thereby increasing the number of Afghan professionals in the United Nations system itself. This should go a long way towards achieving the objectives upon which the structure of UNAMA was based.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“But better management and circulation of information remains a major challenge on which UNAMA has to work with its partners in the weeks and months ahead. As far as the light footprint is concerned, progress has also been made, but I believe that we must continue to work to make the delivery of services to the people of Afghanistan even more cost-effective. Each part of the United Nations system must, therefore, continuously ask itself whether its involvement in a particular sector is based on the fact that it has a comparative advantage to offer. The Transitional Authority is concerned that donors remain reluctant to contribute significant financial resources directly to the national budget, while they continue to channel much of their assistance through the United Nations and non-governmental organizations.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“This has been a learning process for us, but I believe that the entire United Nations family is committed to our goal of ensuring that the Organization's activities strengthen Afghan capacities - not only our own institutional capabilities - and, secondly, that we are responsive to the priorities articulated in the Transitional Administration's National Development Framework, and not to our own agendas or priorities. A great deal of hard work has been done to develop a clear strategic direction for all of our recovery, relief and reconstruction activities. The appointment in May of programme secretariats was an essential element in this effort to bring together agencies and donors into programme groups and to help the Administration know what resources are coming into the country, and who is doing what, and where.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“On the other hand, the Mission is to have a light expatriate footprint and strive to build Afghan capacities, so that Afghans can take over as many of the functions that we are now performing, as soon as possible. Integration is already taking place, but we need to accelerate the pace. The different and sometimes contradictory rules, regulations and cultures of the peacekeeping, political and assistance arms of the United Nations have made the already difficult integration process an even more challenging one.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source
“The recent meetings in Europe of the Afghanistan Reconstruction Steering Group, the Afghanistan Support Group and the G-8 indicated that the donor community intends to stay the course and ensure that Afghanistan does not experience paralyzing delays in providing the bare necessities to its neediest regions and people. As far as the structure of UNAMA is concerned, the underlying philosophy of the Mission remains the same: on the one hand, integration, so that political activities are linked to and informed by those in the relief, recovery and reconstruction sectors, and linked as well to the four cross-cutting areas - that is, gender, human rights, the rule of law and demobilization.”
2002-07-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4579 (2002) · source