General Assembly Session 58 meeting 69

The Acting President

The General Assembly will consider these items in a joint debate. I give the floor to the representative of the Secretariat.

Ms. Kelley (Director, General Assembly and Economic and Social Council Affairs Division)

I should like to advise members of the General Assembly that the report of the Secretary-General on these items, under the symbol A/58/616, will be made available in all languages during the course of our debate today and will be distributed to you as they become available. The reason for the delay in its issuance is due to the fact that the Security Council mission to Afghanistan returned to Headquarters on 7 November. The mission's finding formed a critical input to the Secretary-General's report and thus was finalized only in the last few days. The Secretariat mobilized additional human resources during these past two days so as to ensure that the report becomes available in all languages during our debate today.

The Acting President

I call on the representative of Germany to introduce draft resolution A/58/L.32.

Mr. Pleuger (Germany)

I have the honour to introduce this year's draft resolution on Afghanistan under items 28 and 40 (f) of the agenda of the General Assembly. Please allow me to underscore from the outset that Germany fully aligns itself with the statement of the European Union, which will later be presented by Italy as the presidency of the European Union.

The date for the discussion and adoption of this year's Afghanistan resolution coincides with the second anniversary of the Bonn Agreement. Two years ago, the Afghans took their future into their own hands, seized an historic opportunity, ended a cycle of brutal civil war and poverty, and concluded the Bonn Agreement. This Agreement paved the way for a new start for Afghanistan for a better future which holds the prospect of political stability, economic reconstruction and peaceful development.

In the last two years, the Afghan Government, with the support of the international community, has made significant progress in implementing the Bonn Agreement and recovering from the devastation caused by more than two decades of war. After the adoption of last year's resolution, further progress was achieved in various areas, including the development of a comprehensive national budget, the publication of a draft text for a constitution, the beginning of the disarmament demobilization and reintegration process, and the first steps in the formation of a national army and a national police. This is a clear sign of increased Afghan ownership, which we welcome wholeheartedly.

At the same time, much remains to be done. Having led the Security Council mission to Afghanistan, and having gained a personal impression of the situation on the ground, I think it is right to say that we are at a critical juncture in the socio-economic and political reconstruction of this country. Germany sees currently four fundamental areas which need to be tackled immediately by the Afghan Government and with the largest possible support by the international community if we want to avoid putting at risk the full implementation of the Bonn process. First, the representativeness of the Government needs to be increased -- in particular in the security institutions -- and efforts to promote national unity and reconciliation have to be strengthened. Secondly, security countrywide, which is currently deteriorating owing to terrorist activities, factional fighting and drug-related crime, has to be improved and the authority of the central Government must be extended. Thirdly, the pace of reconstruction and the provision of the necessary financial resources has to be accelerated. And fourthly, the efforts of the Transitional Administration to eliminate illicit poppy cultivation, trafficking in drugs and their precursors and to improve law enforcement, crop substitution and other alternative livelihood and development programmes in Afghanistan have to be maintained and intensified.

All of those areas are interlinked. Each of them has the potential, not only to adversely affect the prospect of political stability, economic reconstruction and peaceful development in Afghanistan, but also to substantially jeopardize those processes. Therefore, none of those areas can be neglected at the expense of the others. All of those priority areas require simultaneous commitment and action by the Afghan Government, as well as enhanced support by the international community and Afghanistan's neighbours.

This year's draft resolution, A/58/L.32, which I have the honour to present today, renews that message to the Afghan people, to its neighbouring States and to the international community. It has been jointly drafted by many delegations in a spirit of support for the people and Government of Afghanistan. The large number of sponsors -- more than 130 of them -- is yet another sign that despite crises in other regions of the world, Afghanistan remains at the top of the international community's list of priorities. It is a strong signal of the continued support of the United Nations for the Afghan people and for the Transitional Administration in Kabul.

Let me quickly highlight some of the key aspects of the new text. First, this year's draft resolution had to incorporate the political developments in Afghanistan that have occurred over the past 12 months. It also takes into account the findings of the recent Security Council mission to Afghanistan. It welcomes the positive developments taking place in Afghanistan, spells out the major challenges lying ahead and addresses the responsibilities of the main parties inside as well as outside of Afghanistan. It welcomes the recent expansion of the International Security Assistance Force mandate, in accordance with the Bonn Agreement, as well as the progressive establishment of Provincial Reconstruction Teams in various parts of Afghanistan.

Additionally, the draft resolution reaffirms the central role of the United Nations in international assistance efforts, calls for continued international support for the Transitional Administration in the implementation of the Bonn Agreement and endorses its priorities. The draft also emphasizes, however, that the main responsibility for a sustainable political solution lies with the Afghan people themselves. Unless all Afghan groups respect the authority of the Transitional Administration and cooperate fully to implement the Bonn Agreement, a lasting peace cannot be obtained.

The draft resolution further reflects the progress that has been achieved in the humanitarian field, in particular, with regard to the implementation of relief and reconstruction programmes. Unfortunately, achievements in that field have been overshadowed by a series of lethal terrorist attacks on humanitarian personnel throughout the country, resulting in the withdrawal of various non-governmental organizations from Afghanistan or from certain regions of the country, with a consequent significant slowdown of relief or development work. In order to address that changed environment, the draft resolution has a greater focus on the safety and security of humanitarian personnel and on the question of sufficient access by them to all parts of the country.

The draft resolution retains its strong emphasis on human rights and on the improvement of the situation of women and children, in particular, that of girls. In that regard, my Government welcomes Afghanistan's ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. We hope that that ratification will form the basis for gradual progress in that area.

The draft resolution also highlights the continued influx of large numbers of refugees and of internally displaced persons seeking to return to their places of origin. That migration is an additional burden on the Transitional Administration and needs to be managed in a comprehensive and sustainable way. By June 2003, the total number of those repatriated had already surpassed 2 million. My Government commends the efforts undertaken by the Transitional Administration, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator in that regard.

For many years now, Germany has felt a special commitment to aid Afghanistan, bilaterally as well as within the United Nations. That builds on a long-standing tradition of exchange between the Afghan and German peoples in the cultural and academic sectors. The German commitment embraced from the beginning many projects, inter alia, in the spheres of education and human rights. Germany also took the lead role in setting up the new Afghan police force. Additionally, Germany has recently extended its civil and military engagement in Afghanistan. In the context of the Security Council decision to expand the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) beyond Kabul, the German Government decided to expand its presence in Afghanistan to the Herat region in the west and to the region around Kunduz in the north of the country. On 1 December 2003 a German civilian component commenced operations from our Embassy's new branch office in Herat. Since 25 October 2003, work has been under way to establish a German ISAF Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Kunduz, which, by the end of this year, will become a German-led NATO pilot PRT project.

By formally expanding our civilian presence beyond Kabul and its surrounding areas, we hope to help Afghanistan break out of the vicious circle with a lack of security in turn hindering progress in the political, economic and humanitarian reconstruction effort. We would welcome any military or civilian participation by interested partners in either the ISAF pilot project in Kunduz or the purely civilian German component in Herat.

Germany believes that that strategy is the best way to ensure long-term stability, by facilitating reconstruction efforts throughout the country and by providing a secure environment for the constitutional process and electoral preparations. We strongly hope that other nations will establish additional PRTs in the near future. It is our view, however, that those efforts should be complemented by a reaffirmation of the commitment of the international community to promote the political and economic reconstruction of Afghanistan.

I renew in this regard my appeal to all Member States to fulfil the commitments they made at Tokyo in 2002 and reiterated at Dubai in September of this year, and to contribute substantially to the Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund, to the Law and Order Trust Fund and to the Afghan National Development Framework.

Furthermore, Germany is of the view that the international community should seriously consider the possibility of a follow-up conference to the Bonn process and of a donor conference, as suggested by President Karzai. In Afghanistan, the conditions necessary for a credible national political process are not yet in place. It is becoming more and more evident that not all core outcomes intended by Bonn can actually be achieved by mid-2004. We believe that a systematic review of the Bonn Agenda and the elaboration of future benchmarks for the political process should be undertaken soon, in order to generate the necessary financial resources in time and to avoid a political vacuum after June 2004.

I would like to stress the key role of the United Nations in this context. The United Nations is, and will remain, the key body in aiding and supporting our Afghan friends in rebuilding their society, their economy and their country. The United Nations has assumed these tasks admirably. I wish to take this opportunity to thank the Secretary-General; his Special Representative, Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi; and the staff of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan for their tireless efforts.

I am sure that I speak on behalf of all of us in this regard when I say that we owe sincere and deep gratitude to Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi for his exceptional leadership and for the very valuable role he has played throughout the process. We wish him all the best for the future.

Germany will continue consistently to support the efforts of the United Nations in this area with all the means at its disposal. We hope jointly to achieve the goal of a peaceful and free Afghanistan that will play its part in ensuring the region's long-term stability.

In conclusion, I would like to express my gratitude to all Member States willing to sponsor this draft resolution and would appreciate it very much if we could adopt it -- as in the past -- by consensus.