October 19, 2014
George W. Bush’s Presidential Address to the Nation
(October 7, 2001)
Source: The White House
Good afternoon. On my orders, the United States
military has begun strikes against Al-Qaeda terrorist training camps and
military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. These carefully
targeted actions are designed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist
base of operations, and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime.
We are joined in this operation by our staunch friend,
Great Britain. Other close friends, including Canada, Australia, Germany, and
France, have pledged forces as the operation unfolds. More than forty countries
in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and across Asia have granted air transit or
landing rights. Many more have shared intelligence. We are supported by the
collective will of the world.
More than two weeks ago, I gave Taliban leaders a
series of clear and specific demands: close terrorist training camps; hand over
leaders of the Al-Qaeda network; and return all foreign nationals, including
American citizens, unjustly detained in your country. None of these demands
were met. And now the Taliban will pay a price. By destroying camps and
disrupting communications, we will make it more difficult for the terror
network to train new recruits and coordinate their evil plans.
Initially, the terrorists may burrow deeper into caves
and other entrenched hiding places. Our military action is also designed to
clear the way for sustained, comprehensive, and relentless operations to drive
them out and bring them to justice.
At the same time, the oppressed
people of Afghanistan will know the generosity of America and our allies. As we
strike military targets, we’ll also drop food, medicine, and supplies to the
starving and suffering men and women and children of Afghanistan.
The United States of America is a friend to the Afghan
people, and we are the friends of almost a billion worldwide who practice the
Islamic faith. The United States of America is an enemy of those who aid
terrorists and of the barbaric criminals who profane a great religion by
committing murder in its name.
This military action is a part of our campaign against
terrorism, another front in a war that has already been joined through
diplomacy, intelligence, the freezing of financial assets, and the arrests of
known terrorists by law enforcement agents in thirty-eight countries. Given the
nature and reach of our enemies, we will win this conflict by the patient
accumulation of successes, by meeting a series of challenges with determination
and will and purpose.
Today we focus on Afghanistan, but the battle is
broader. Every nation has a choice to make. In this conflict, there is no
neutral ground. If any government sponsors the outlaws and killers of
innocents, they have become outlaws and murderers themselves. And they will
take that lonely path at their own peril.
I’m speaking to you today from the Treaty Room of the
White House, a place where American presidents have worked for peace. We’re a
peaceful nation. Yet, as we have learned, so suddenly and so tragically, there
can be no peace in a world of sudden terror. In the face of today’s new threat,
the only way to pursue peace is to pursue those who threaten it.
We did not ask for this mission, but we will fulfill
it. The name of today’s military operation is Enduring Freedom. We defend not
only our precious freedoms, but also the freedom of the people everywhere to
live and raise their children free from fear.
I know many Americans feel fear today. And our
government is taking strong precautions. All law enforcement and intelligence
agencies are working aggressively around America, around the world, and around
the clock. At my request, many governors have activated the National Guard to
strengthen airport security. We have called up Reserves to reinforce our
military capability and strengthen the protection of our homeland.
In the months ahead, our patience will be one of our
strengths—patience with the long waits that will result from tighter security;
patience and understanding that it will take time to achieve our goals;
patience in all the sacrifices that may come.
Today, those sacrifices are being made by members of
our Armed Forces who now defend us so far from home, and by their proud and
worried families. A commander-in-chief sends America’s sons and daughters into
battle in a foreign land only after the greatest care and a lot of prayer. We
ask a lot of those who wear our uniform. We ask them to leave their loved ones,
to travel great distances, to risk injury, even to be prepared to make the
ultimate sacrifice of their lives. They are dedicated, they are honorable; they
represent the best of our country. And we are grateful.
To all the men and women in our military—every sailor,
every soldier, every airman, every coastguardsman, every Marine—I say this:
your mission is defined; your objectives are clear; your goal is just. You have
my full confidence, and you will have every tool you need to carry out your
duty.
I recently received a touching letter that says a lot
about the state of America in these difficult times—a letter from a
fourth-grade girl, with a father in the military: “As much as I don’t want my
dad to fight,” she wrote, “I’m willing to give him to you.”
This is a precious gift, the greatest she could give.
This young girl knows what America is all about. Since September 11, an entire
generation of young Americans has gained new understanding of the value of
freedom, and its cost in duty and in sacrifice.
The battle is now joined on many fronts. We will not
waver; we will not tire; we will not falter; and we will not fail. Peace and
freedom will prevail.
Thank you. May God continue to
bless America.
Remarks by President Barack Obama
on the Way Forward in Afghanistan (June 22, 2011)
Source: The White House
Good evening. Nearly ten years ago, America suffered
the worst attack on our shores since Pearl Harbor. This mass murder was planned
by Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan, and signaled a new
threat to our security—one in which the targets were no longer soldiers on a
battlefield, but innocent men, women, and children going about their daily
lives.
In the days that followed, our nation was united as we
struck at Al-Qaeda and routed the Taliban in Afghanistan. Then, our focus
shifted. A second war was launched in Iraq, and we spent enormous blood and
treasure to support a new government there. By the time I took office, the war
in Afghanistan had entered its seventh year. But Al-Qaeda’s leaders had escaped
into Pakistan and were plotting new attacks, while the Taliban had regrouped
and gone on the offensive. Without a new strategy and decisive action, our
military commanders warned that we could face a resurgent Al-Qaeda and a
Taliban taking over large parts of Afghanistan.
For this reason, in one of the most difficult
decisions that I’ve made as president, I ordered an additional 30,000 American
troops into Afghanistan. When I announced this surge at West Point, we set
clear objectives: to refocus on Al-Qaeda, to reverse the Taliban’s momentum,
and train Afghan security forces to defend their own country. I also made it
clear that our commitment would not be open-ended, and that we would begin to
draw down our forces this July.
Tonight, I can tell you that we are fulfilling that
commitment. Thanks to our extraordinary men and women in uniform, our civilian
personnel, and our many coalition partners, we are meeting our goals. As a
result, starting next month, we will be able to remove 10,000 of our troops
from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and we will bring home a total of
33,000 troops by next summer, fully recovering the surge I announced at West
Point. After this initial reduction, our troops will continue coming home at a
steady pace as Afghan security forces move into the lead. Our mission will
change from combat to support. By 2014, this process of transition will be
complete, and the Afghan people will be responsible for their own
security.
We’re starting this drawdown from a position of
strength. Al-Qaeda is under more pressure than at any time since 9/11. Together
with the Pakistanis, we have taken out more than half of Al-Qaeda’s leadership.
And thanks to our intelligence professionals and Special Forces, we killed
Osama bin Laden, the only leader that Al-Qaeda had ever known. This was a
victory for all who have served since 9/11. One soldier summed it up well. “The
message,” he said, “is we don’t forget. You will be held accountable, no matter
how long it takes.”
The information that we recovered from bin Laden’s
compound shows Al-Qaeda under enormous strain. Bin Laden expressed concern that
Al-Qaeda had been unable to effectively replace senior terrorists that had been
killed, and that Al-Qaeda has failed in its effort to portray America as a
nation at war with Islam—thereby draining more widespread support. Al-Qaeda
remains dangerous, and we must be vigilant against attacks. But we have put
Al-Qaeda on a path to defeat, and we will not relent until the job is done.
In Afghanistan, we’ve inflicted serious losses on the
Taliban and taken a number of its strongholds. Along with our surge, our allies
also increased their commitments, which helped stabilize more of the country.
Afghan security forces have grown by over 100,000 troops, and in some provinces
and municipalities we’ve already begun to transition responsibility for
security to the Afghan people. In the face of violence and intimidation,
Afghans are fighting and dying for their country, establishing local police
forces, opening markets and schools, creating new opportunities for women and
girls, and trying to turn the page on decades of war.
Of course, huge challenges remain. This is the
beginning—but not the end—of our effort to wind down this war. We’ll have to do
the hard work of keeping the gains that we’ve made, while we draw down our
forces and transition responsibility for security to the Afghan government. And
next May, in Chicago, we will host a summit with our NATO allies and partners to
shape the next phase of this transition.
We do know that peace cannot come to a land that has
known so much war without a political settlement. So as we strengthen the
Afghan government and security forces, America will join initiatives that
reconcile the Afghan people, including the Taliban. Our position on these talks
is clear: they must be led by the Afghan government, and those who want to be a
part of a peaceful Afghanistan must break from Al-Qaeda, abandon violence, and
abide by the Afghan constitution. But, in part because of our military effort,
we have reason to believe that progress can be made.
The goal that we seek is achievable, and can be
expressed simply: no safe haven from which Al-Qaeda or its affiliates can
launch attacks against our homeland or our allies. We won’t try to make
Afghanistan a perfect place. We will not police its streets or patrol its
mountains indefinitely. That is the responsibility of the Afghan government,
which must step up its ability to protect its people, and move from an economy
shaped by war to one that can sustain a lasting peace. What we can do, and will
do, is build a partnership with the Afghan people that endures—one that ensures
that we will be able to continue targeting terrorists and supporting a
sovereign Afghan government.
Of course, our efforts must also address terrorist
safe havens in Pakistan. No country is more endangered by the presence of
violent extremists, which is why we will continue to press Pakistan to expand
its participation in securing a more peaceful future for this war-torn region.
We’ll work with the Pakistani government to root out the cancer of violent
extremism, and we will insist that it keeps its commitments. For there should
be no doubt that so long as I am president, the United States will never
tolerate a safe haven for those who aim to kill us. They cannot elude us, nor
escape the justice they deserve.
My fellow Americans, this has been a difficult decade
for our country. We’ve learned anew the profound cost of war—a cost that’s been
paid by the nearly 4,500 Americans who have given their lives in Iraq, and the
over 1,500 who have done so in Afghanistan—men and women who will not live to
enjoy the freedom that they defended. Thousands more have been wounded. Some
have lost limbs on the battlefield, and others still battle the demons that
have followed them home.
Yet tonight, we take comfort in knowing that the tide
of war is receding. Fewer of our sons and daughters are serving in harm’s way.
We’ve ended our combat mission in Iraq, with 100,000 American troops already
out of that country. And even as there will be dark days ahead in Afghanistan,
the light of a secure peace can be seen in the distance. These long wars will
come to a responsible end.
As they do, we must learn their lessons. Already this
decade of war has caused many to question the nature of America’s engagement
around the world. Some would have America retreat from our responsibility as an
anchor of global security, and embrace an isolation that ignores the very real threats
that we face. Others would have America over-extended, confronting every evil
that can be found abroad.
We must chart a more centered course. Like generations
before, we must embrace America’s singular role in the course of human events.
But we must be as pragmatic as we are passionate; as strategic as we are
resolute. When threatened, we must respond with force—but when that force can
be targeted, we need not deploy large armies overseas. When innocents are being
slaughtered and global security endangered, we don’t have to choose between
standing idly by or acting on our own. Instead, we must rally international
action, which we’re doing in Libya, where we do not have a single soldier on
the ground, but are supporting allies in protecting the Libyan people and
giving them the chance to determine their own destiny.
In all that we do, we must remember that what sets
America apart is not solely our power—it is the principles upon which our union
was founded. We’re a nation that brings our enemies to justice while adhering
to the rule of law, and respecting the rights of all our citizens. We protect
our own freedom and prosperity by extending it to others. We stand not for
empire, but for self-determination. That is why we have a stake in the
democratic aspirations that are now washing across the Arab world. We will
support those revolutions with fidelity to our ideals, with the power of our
example, and with an unwavering belief that all human beings deserve to live
with freedom and dignity.
Above all, we are a nation whose strength abroad has
been anchored in opportunity for our citizens here at home. Over the last
decade, we have spent a trillion dollars on war, at a time of rising debt and
hard economic times. Now, we must invest in America’s greatest resource—our
people. We must unleash innovation that creates new jobs and industries, while
living within our means. We must rebuild our infrastructure and find new and
clean sources of energy. And most of all, after a decade of passionate debate,
we must recapture the common purpose that we shared at the beginning of this
time of war. For our nation draws strength from our differences, and when our
union is strong no hill is too steep, no horizon is beyond our reach.
America, it is time to focus on nation building here
at home.
In this effort, we draw inspiration from our fellow
Americans who have sacrificed so much on our behalf. To our troops, our
veterans, and their families, I speak for all Americans when I say that we will
keep our sacred trust with you, and provide you with the care and benefits and
opportunity that you deserve.
I met some of these patriotic Americans at Fort
Campbell. A while back, I spoke to the 101st Airborne that has fought to turn
the tide in Afghanistan, and to the team that took out Osama bin Laden.
Standing in front of a model of bin Laden’s compound, the Navy SEAL who led
that effort paid tribute to those who had been lost—brothers and sisters in
arms whose names are now written on bases where our troops stand guard
overseas, and on headstones in quiet corners of our country where their memory
will never be forgotten. This officer—like so many others I’ve met on bases, in
Baghdad and Bagram, and at Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval Hospital—spoke with
humility about how his unit worked together as one, depending on each other,
and trusting one another, as a family might do in a time of peril.
That’s a lesson worth remembering—that we are all a
part of one American family. Though we have known disagreement and division, we
are bound together by the creed that is written into our founding documents,
and a conviction that the United States of America is a country that can
achieve whatever it sets out to accomplish. Now, let us finish the work at
hand. Let us responsibly end these wars, and reclaim the American Dream that is
at the center of our story. With confidence in our cause, with faith in our
fellow citizens, and with hope in our hearts, let us go about the work of
extending the promise of America—for this generation, and the next.
May God bless our troops. And may God bless the United
States of America.
Speech by President Hamid Karzai at Georgetown
University (January 11, 2013)
Source: Office of the President, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Mr. President DeGioia, Dr. Magrab, this is my second
time in this lovely hall. The first time was quite a few years ago, and when I
was very popular in the U.S. The second time is more real-time. And this
university is also the one that has honored me with an honorary doctorate. And
I thank you once again, President DeGioia, for that. It is hanging in my living
room with the expectation that my son one day will be studying here. So I keep
telling him, “Georgetown University.”
But, ladies and gentlemen, a journey that we began
together in 2001—that is, Afghanistan and the United States—was for a great
cause: freeing the world from terrorism and radicalism, liberating Afghanistan
from a creeping invasion and that tyrannical, obscurantist rule by the Taliban.
The first one—in reverse order—the first one, freeing
Afghanistan, happened within a month and a half to two months. And subsequent
to that, Afghanistan began its journey towards democracy, the rule of law,
progress in all aspects of life, as all societies desire. It went all right. It
went reasonably good under the circumstances, and, without a doubt, with the
help of the United States and our other allies around the world.
The second part, freeing us all from terrorism and
radicalism, didn’t work as smoothly as we expected. There were serious bumps
along the road, and setbacks.
Now, the Afghan people, regardless of where they stand
ideologically on all these issues, recognize that Afghanistan could not have
made the progress that we have made in the past ten years without the help that
we received from our allies, led by the United States of America. In more
closer terms, the U.S. taxpayers’ money. It did contribute massively to
Afghanistan’s upliftment: the return of women to the workplace, to society, to
polity; the return of young girls to education and boys, of course; the return
of universities, roads, communications, mobile phones, computers, all of that.
Mobile phone wasn’t a joke. I meant it.
When we started in 2001, we barely had telephones. My
office was given a few walkie-talkies by the United Nations in orange color.
That was the means of communication we had. Today, Afghanistan’s population of
nearly thirty million has telephones available to eighteen million of it. Not
one or two or three companies, but many more—four or five. And they own them
all. So the country has made progress.
Now, the War on Terror has been costly. It has been
costly to you in America. So many of your men and women in uniform and
civilians have lost life. It has been costly to our other allies. It has also
been costly massively, massively to the Afghan people. We have lost, in the
past ten years, tens of thousands of our civilians to violence. This year
alone—I mean last year; this year has just begun—each month we lose—we lost—250
of our servicemen and women to terrorism, and nearly 450 casualties in our
civilians each month. So the cost has been immense.
Therefore, complaints on both
sides. It has been a difficult journey—a journey in which, at times,
expectations are not met. And when that doesn’t happen, both sides complain. I
am aware of the complaint in your media; you are aware of my complaints.
But the journey continued, the relationship continued,
out of a reality that Afghanistan would always be better off in close contact
and partnership with the United States. And that is why last year, when we
convened the Afghan Loya Jirga, or the Grand Council of the Afghan people, what
you call caucus, the Afghan people voted overwhelmingly for partnership with
the United States. But the Afghan people voted overwhelmingly for partnership
with the United States as a sovereign country, and expecting that that
sovereignty will be respected by our allies.
Today I am glad to report to you, ladies and
gentlemen, that as the Afghans and the United States government agreed on a
format for expanding our relationship into the Bilateral Security Agreement by
which the United States will reduce its forces in Afghanistan, will stay beyond
2014 in a limited number in certain facilities in Afghanistan, and that the
United States will continue to train and equip and assist Afghanistan, and that
Afghanistan will be responsible for its own security, protection of its own
borders, and all that comes with it.
So is the future certainly good for us? Does it have
dangers on its way? Are we certain to move forward? Will this partnership work?
Yes.
What you hear in segments of the
analytical work, the NGOs, or the various bodies informing you on events in
Afghanistan, the media—if I watched television in the United States, or in
Europe, and then if I judged Afghanistan from that perspective, it would be a
disaster. I would lose all hope. But if I came from Afghanistan, with all the
traffic jams there, with all the pollution there now, with all the phones
ringing there, with all the television channels there, with all the media
there, with all the hustle and bustle of life, and the young people going to
education and studying and working and making life move forward, the wheel go
forward, I would give you a different perspective. I would say Afghanistan is
definitely moving in the right direction: 2014 will be a good year for us, and
the years after will be even better, and that this country will have its third
presidential elections in a year and a few months from today. I’ll be a retired
president. There will be a new president elected by the Afghan people. The
economy will move further; it has already been growing at 8 to 9 percent
annually in the past ten years, from a mere $180 of income per capita. Today,
we are speaking of nearly $600 to $700. From a mere, I don’t know, $200
millions of our reserves—today, we are talking of—I don’t know if I should tell
you that, because the U.S. government will hear me and not help us anymore—$7
billion in our reserves. More than thirty universities, private and public.
Roads. Electricity. The future holds clear in progress and prosperity, by the
standards of our region and Afghanistan.
Now, will Afghanistan, ten years
from now, be a very prosperous country? Will Afghanistan, ten years from now,
have resolved all its difficulties? Will Afghanistan be a superpower? No. But
Afghanistan will be a country that will be moving forward. Education will draw
better—thousands of our students will have graduated in our own universities;
thousands more will come from studies abroad, who are now studying abroad. The
democracy and the institutions that democracy requires will grow further. There
will be more elections. There will be more parliamentarians coming. There will
be more institutional reform. There will be a better civil service. There will
be better governance. But Afghanistan will continue to face problems. There may
be violence. There may be other impediments on the way forward. But this wheel
of progress will move in continuity and not stop.
Will Afghanistan remember the United States as a
country that helped, or a country that did not help? Definitely, Afghanistan
will remember the United States as a country that helped. Definitely,
Afghanistan will remember that it was the U.S. assistance that brought so much
to Afghanistan. We will forget the less pleasant aspects of our relationship.
We will move forward in the gratitude of the help that the United States has
provided to Afghanistan and also our other neighbors.
But from today onwards, as we move forward, will this
relationship be emotional, as it was at times—and you’ve heard us all in the
past many years; will this relationship be emotional or will this relationship
be more mature? This relationship has already grown mature. We recognize the
United States’ interests in Afghanistan and the region, and the United States
recognizes that Afghanistan is a good old entity there and has a life of its
own, has a law of its own, has a social context of its own. And within that
social context, Afghanistan will move forward in partnership with America and
also in partnership with the other countries of NATO that have helped us in the
past many years.
Will Afghanistan, beyond 2014, be
a country that you can visit as tourists? Yes, it will be. Will Afghanistan
suffer the consequences of terrorism? It might, on occasions. Will the peace
process work? Yes, it will. Will the peace process take us back to times where
the Afghan woman could not go to work? No. Will we keep our progress and the
achievements of the past ten years, in spite of the peace, in spite of the
return of Taliban to the Afghan social and political life? Yes. And this
assurance is important today, to give through this forum where the Afghan
Women’s Council was created many years ago, that Afghanistan will have peace,
but that peace with the Taliban will not drive us away from the gains that we
have made. Rather, those gains will definitely be consolidated and those gains
will remain with the Afghan people.
Today, as I’m talking to you, Afghanistan has a
standing army and police of 350,000 people. Afghanistan has a banking sector.
Afghanistan has a strong agriculture. You’ve all heard of pomegranates—they
come from Afghanistan. You’ve all heard of grapes—they come from Afghanistan,
the ones that come from Afghanistan; I know you have them in California as
well.
So, ladies and gentlemen, there is a country in
Afghanistan. Just like here in America. Just like in the rest of the world.
There are weddings and wedding halls. There is music. There’s cars honking.
There are buses. There are donkey-driven carts. There are—there is life. There
is society. This society is as lively and moving forward as any other society.
And it is this that I would like you to remember when you think of Afghanistan:
a country of 5,000 years’ history, at least; a country that has produced
thinkers, philosophers, poets; a country that has had a good past; a country
like all other countries, has also suffered in its history. And I can tell you
that the most recent period of the suffering of the Afghan history is behind
us.
A new period is beginning—has already begun—and that
new period will be consolidated with 2014 coming, where your sons and daughters
will no longer be burdened protecting Afghanistan, where the Afghan sons and
daughters will take the mantle and will move forward.
We will have plenty more to do. And that plenty more
can best be described by Frost. “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I
have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep,” and miles to go before
we sleep in Afghanistan.
Thank you very, very much, ladies and gentlemen.
Speech by President Hamid Karzai to Inaugural Session
of the Fourth Legislative Year of the Afghan Parliament (March 7, 2013)
Source: Office of the President, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
In the name of Allah, the most merciful and most
compassionate.
Your Excellency Speaker of the Lower House and
chairman of the Session, vice-presidents, speaker of the Upper House, chief
justice, jihadi personalities of Afghanistan, chairman of the Constitutional
Oversight Commission, chairman of Afghanistan Council of Ulema, senior state
officials, members of both Houses of Parliament, representatives of the
international community, media members, ladies, and gentlemen!
It is such a
proud moment for our great nation that, despite all the problems,
interferences, and conflicts, managed to continue to build up on the democratic
setup in the country.
In the rich history of a nation like Afghanistan, ten
years is too short a time for these huge developments to happen. But at the
same time, problems too persisted along the way.
Over these past years, considerable progress has been
made towards reinforcing the sovereignty, state institutions, and ensuring
stability. However, this journey of our people’s long-held desires has been
full of ups and downs.
Distinguished representatives, senators, ladies, and
gentlemen!
Over the past eleven years, despite all our economic,
social, political, and cultural achievements, we could not achieve peace.
On daily basis, our children, women, mothers, elderly,
youth, and members of our armed forces are martyred. Mosques, schools, homes,
and state institutions are destroyed. In view of this situation, the most
urgent desire of our people is to see the war end in their country and peace
prevail.
Although achieving peace is not
easy, it is still possible but through patience and caution. We will remain
focused with Allah’s help on our goal to achieve a lasting peace. We are very
well aware of the efforts hatched to hurt our peace endeavors and to deviate
the process out of Afghan control—that we see as the only guarantee to the
continuity of our political system and protection of our achievements—into
fragmented individual or group level effort.
There are countries that by backing and encouraging
such efforts want to see Afghanistan slip back into conflicts, unrest, and
lawlessness of the nineties.
Distinguished participants!
At national level, our efforts throughout the past
several years for peace were followed with good results. Those of the Taliban
who are Afghans and Muslims with a feeling for their country have now come to
the understanding, we are told, that they desire peace for their country and
that they know their country is being destroyed by their own hands. However,
there are efforts by outsiders who don’t want to see Afghanistan have a
government and system and that it be at the service of others, be bankrupt, in
need, and divided among individuals and groups. It therefore requires all of us
to join hands and pursue peace as collective demand of our nation.
The High Peace Council represents people from every
tribe and corner of the country and I therefore very much hope that the Afghan
parliament and our politicians stand fully behind our Peace Council as a unified
and single body to move the peace efforts forward. We have no problem with the
Taliban entering into talks with various elements, politicians, parties, and
political personalities. They are welcome, they are also Afghans, there is no
problem in seeing and sitting with an Afghan anywhere in the country, but if we
engage with foreigners as a broken and fragmented nation, it could have dire
consequences. It is therefore not a problem to talk anywhere among ourselves,
with the Taliban, it is good, they are Afghans.
The peace process has its foreign dimensions as well,
considered to be also very important. In view of all this, it is imperative for
us, the people of Afghanistan to stand united and proceed with our peace
efforts through one single body which is the High Peace Council. I therefore
hope that all of us support and back this.
Distinguished participants!
Afghanistan agreed with the establishment in Qatar of
an office for peace negotiations with the Taliban. This agreement is subject to
conditions to be worked out between the High Peace Council and the Taliban. The
conditions include protection of our gains of the past many years and respect
to the constitution. I would like to call again upon the Taliban who are
Afghans and Muslim and are from this land. Brothers! You must have now come to
the understanding especially in the past few weeks that the guns are used by
foreigners against the people of Afghanistan and through these guns placed on
our [your] shoulders, they destroy development, security, and prosperity of
Afghanistan and impedes our country’s progress. My Taliban brothers! You must
understand that you are being used to serve foreign interests, you are used
against your own soil and your own home. So, the time has come for you to have
the courage to speak out.
Why I am saying all this? Because they [Taliban] have
told us in the meetings about their problems and are scared to come out. I call
upon them to come to their own land and rid themselves of the problems.
We too have problems. It is not as if the Afghan
government is a need-free government. I wish it was. It is not a government
standing yet on its own feet. Foreigners still pay our salaries, they equip our
forces. However, despite all the needs and dependence we have to the world, we still
have our own independent policy when it comes to our national issues.
Sisters and brothers!
I would repeat my call upon the Taliban. It is not
like only you have problems, we too have our share of problems. However,
despite all the major problems this country has, it still acts on its policy
options independently and on the basis of national interests. We have many
instances where foreigners who are here to help have wanted us to do it a
certain way, but we acted our own way. So, if you cannot come forward due to
fears of outsiders, remember that this fear you have will end up treason. I
call you to come out of foreign homes and come to your land and save it.
Distinguished representatives and senators!
As you all know, a lasting peace in Afghanistan and
Pakistan requires strong will and sincere cooperation by our neighbor Pakistan.
However, sadly, no practical action has been taken to this end. The people of
Afghanistan want that the government of Pakistan to earnestly help with peace
in the two countries. Fanning the flames of war and violence in Afghanistan
favors nothing but deepening of the crisis in Pakistan and the region. Today,
Pakistan itself has turned into a scene of tragic terrorist attacks. Its major
cities from Karachi to Islamabad, to the military bases, command centers, and
its civilians all are falling victim to the direct threat of terrorism. The
space now created by the presence of sanctuaries, training and financing
grounds that terrorists enjoy in Pakistan have today not only led to terrorism
in Pakistan itself but it is also exported to other countries in the region. I
would like to once again remind [everyone] that terrorism is the most serious
threat [that] has menaced our entire region. For the sake of peace, stability,
and economic prosperity for the region, it is an imperative for both Pakistan
and Afghanistan to closely help each other.
Any instrumental use of terrorism will produce nothing
but a backfire that will devastate its own promoters. I would like to
reiterate, from this hall of the National Assembly, on the determination of the
people and of the government of Afghanistan for a sincere cooperation with
Pakistan in order for peace, unity, and stronger economic, transit, and
cultural interaction to materialize in our region.
Representatives, senators, ladies, and gentlemen!
One of the other topics high on our agenda is to work
to complete the process of transition of responsibilities to Afghan government,
the fourth tranche of which is well underway and will provide for Afghan forces
to secure over 87 percent of the entire population. Our experience of the
transition over the past two years shows that our security forces have now
gained the sufficient capability to provide security. In all areas where Afghan
government has taken over for security responsibility, the situation has
improved and we have no problems.
The people and the government of Afghanistan are
committed to complete the process of transition at the soonest and take over
the responsibility themselves. The completion of transition process means
having Afghan people take the responsibility for their own affairs and
country—a long-held aspiration we persistently try to fulfill. We can only
protect this land with God’s help and the ability of its own youth. As our
brave ancestors have defended and protected this land throughout history, we
too carry that responsibility and will hand an independent and prosperous land
to the next generations. Relying on our own force and confidence to the ability
of this nation and the aspirations of our people inspires us to move forward in
ensuring stability and development. This requires that our politicians and our
political elite learn from the lessons of the three past decades and help one
another in moving this country forward to peace, stability and national unity.
The national unity in Afghanistan and reliance on the
unbreakable unity of this land are the only assurances that can open the way
for peace, stability, and progress. The people of Afghanistan, in a system
elected by the will of its people, must be able to enjoy all the rights and
freedoms enshrined in the constitution. Respect to human and citizen rights of
the people are the high values we all must remain committed to.
Over the past three decades, our people never felt
safe against the common practices of harassment, annoyance, torture, and
illegal imprisonment as well as the deprivation of their basic freedoms. I am
personally committed and bound by the respect to human and citizen rights of
the people of Afghanistan, respect to their privacy, and respect to all
freedoms and security of the people. That was exactly on this reason that I
remind our security forces and state institutions to treat as their priority
the rights and freedoms of the people of Afghanistan. No violation can be
tolerated.
Distinguished participants!
The truth is that the governments of Afghanistan over
the past three decades have continuously oppressed our people either through
serving foreigners or through a totalitarian way of ruling. We, on a daily
basis with no exception, are in some sort of a struggle with the international
community on our quest for people’s rights, for the human rights of our people,
on issues like the bombardment of our homes and inflicting harm to our
children. No villages should be hurt, no one should be harmed and imprisoned.
We keep hearing that our own forces, the Afghan government forces engage in
violating people rights, it is simply not forgivable. The Afghan nation has the
right to hold each one of us accountable, from me to the parliament, to the
government, cabinet, and security agencies.
Our homes are still not safe,
how can I blame foreigners if we ourselves engage in violating our people’s
rights and torturing them at homes or in our prisons. We have sworn in to serve
this country!
Sisters and brothers!
When I meet my security
officials on daily basis, I continuously ask them to make sure that people’s
rights are protected and I want the same assurance from this house of the
people and to assure back to our people that the government of Afghanistan, the
Ministry of Interior, the National Directorate of Security, and all other state
institutions are there to serve and protect the life and dignity of the people.
We are duty bound to fight the powerful and irresponsible wherever they are,
whether inside or outside the government. Wherever there is warlordism, they
definitely derive their power from the government, or the contracts given by
foreigners, it is either of these that serves as the source of power for these
people to engage in harassing public.
We therefore commit ourselves once again to the people
to ensure their safety at their homes. But we will treat criminals as
criminals. Rule of law has to be ensured, for which we need your serious
oversight as the representatives of the people. If we cannot stop our own
practices of torture and harassment in the administration, we won’t be able to
stop others. Presently, it is just the opposite. While we managed to stop
foreigners, we unfortunately heard of signs of such practices by ourselves.
When the UN released a report of torture in the Afghan prisons, I initially did
not believe the findings as I was in contact with the relevant officials on
daily basis. We first rejected the report, but then decided to look into it
fearing it could be true. I assigned a delegation led by Mr. Adalatkhwa, deputy
chairman of the Constitutional Oversight Commission, to investigate the issue.
They carried out an all-out probe and the result was not what the UN report
said, but still, it showed that there was harassment and abuse at the time of
arrest by foreign forces and their Afghan partners, who are part of our forces.
We decided that such practices must stop and for that, cameras be installed in
the places of investigation and interrogation.
I hope that the government of Afghanistan takes the
required measures as per my order and report back to the parliament and to
myself.
Mr. Chairman and distinguished representatives!
Based on an agreement reached with NATO in Lisbon,
they would be leaving Afghanistan as per the agreement and Afghans welcome that
for the good of the country.
In the coming spring, Afghan forces will be taking the
lead for security across the whole country. We want that, as per our agreement
in Washington, ISAF and NATO troops start pulling out of Afghan villages into
their bases.
Afghanistan is entering into a new phase of relations
with NATO and would like to achieve our objectives set for 2014. What are the
goals? The goals are that Afghan forces ensure security of the entire country
and the population, and protect Afghanistan territory, and provide security for
people in a manner that ensures the civic and human rights of the people.
Our efforts of many years finally yielded result in
claiming the control over the foreign-run prisons, with the Bagram prison set
to be transferred next week. I hope the Americans do not delay the transfer any
further. Once they did promise to transfer the prisons but did not do so.
The transfer will take place on Saturday. Did you
hear? The prisoners will be transferred to Afghanistan on Saturday.
Dear ladies and gentlemen, listen!
After the transfer is over. We
know there are some innocent people held in those prisons. Though I would be
criticized, I will instruct to immediately release those innocent so that they
go back home. However, those who are involved in bombings and killings of our
people must be punished.
We will manage the foreign presence in Afghanistan on
the basis of mutual relationship, where our national sovereignty, mutual
respect, and our states’ equal footing are fully taken into account. That’s
why, we move forward with much care in our talks with the United States of
America on the security agreement, while considering the sovereignty and
national interests of Afghanistan as the keystone of our negotiations.
The day before last, the
secretary general of NATO came to meet me. He said that many countries wanted
to remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014.
Listen carefully, ladies and gentlemen. It is a very
important national issue for Afghanistan.
I told NATO Secretary General during our discussions
that any country seeking to stay, provide assistance, and keep their military
forces here beyond 2014 must reach an agreement with Afghanistan bilaterally.
Having received our agreement, it can keep military presence here but no
country can do so arbitrarily or under the NATO framework.
We have our own deal with NATO on its military
presence beyond 2014. Any country willing to remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014
will need to seek our agreement and meet our conditions. Then, it can stay here
based on our conditions. We are having such negotiations with the United States
of America.
I know that foreign presence here beyond 2014
undoubtedly have benefits for Afghanistan too but we will pay a price for it.
This presence is not only in our interest but in their interest as well.
Therefore, it is not a unilateral deal but a bilateral agreement. We will have
our own interests in any post-2014 military presence but their interests will
also be taken into account.
Honorable ladies and gentlemen.
All the deals, whether with the United States or any
other country, could only be made based on the determination and decision of
our people. The government of Afghanistan is not authorized to undertake such a
great affair. So, it is up to the Afghan nation, the National Assembly and
Jirga of Afghanistan to make such a decision.
Once the people agreed, the National Assembly of
Afghanistan then can pass the public decisions. However, I give you this
assurance that we are so prudent in our talks in this regard. No aspect of
those agreements would be left without scrutiny. In this respect, I want to
reassure our public through you that we are working very carefully and strictly
in this regard.
As the chair pointed out to this issue earlier, we are
in a very sensitive and risky juncture of our modern history.
During the past ten years Afghanistan has founded and
established a democratic political system. That is to say: the State of the
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan—a political system established based on Islamic
rules, democracy, inclusive public participation, freedoms of speech and press,
and obligations to obey human and civil rights of the people.
A prosperous future for our people could only
guarantee the survival of democracy in Afghanistan. According to the
Independent Electoral Commission’s program, free and just elections for
president and provincial councils are scheduled to be held. We all will try
inevitably to conduct a fair and free election.
After one year, if we were alive beyond today and if
God give us a chance to live, I will be your ex-president. A new president
elected by your votes will come to power.
Members of the National Assembly of Afghanistan!
What will be good for me as the incumbent president
and my honorable vice-presidents, who are here and who have accompanied me
during the past ten years, and for all officials of the government? Will it be
good for us to hold good, dignified, transparent elections so that a new
president will come to power with major legitimacy where I will live peacefully
at home or not a transparent election that will result in controversies and
problems? If it is not the right election, people will blame me, saying that
the elections are spoiled because of me? Logically, what type of elections will
I want? I will definitely want the first one, the good elections which will
yield me good reputation and dignity, and the history will name me “good.”
So, I will try my best to hold a peaceful, free, and
independent election for the people to vote for a new president as well as the
leader and members of provincial councils so that our country moves toward
stability and progress. Undoubtedly, good elections will bring better stability
to Afghanistan. Insha’Allah! No doubt, everybody wants it.
Now some individuals raise criticisms but on the day
of the elections, everyone will seek good elections. We all wish this because
bad work is in no one’s interest. Good work and free elections are in interest of
our people. Be sure it is beneficial.
So, we wish to move forward through joint cooperation
and collaboration in order to conduct our elections well.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a very important point to note! In today’s
Afghanistan, one of the main reasons for constant crisis is unsustainability of
the political systems that destroyed or ruined our homeland. Every few years or
decades, Afghanistan suffered coup d’états or fell victim to insurgencies or
wars arising from foreign invasions and interferences. People lost their rights
and freedoms and the country was turned into a battlefield of blood and fire.
For that reason, I speak very explicitly here that Afghanistan is not a
political lab that could be used by individuals who rise up and put forward
their desires and wishes or foreigners’ objectives under the disguise of public
demands, thus jeopardizing the survival of the system, national unity, and
territorial integrity of Afghanistan.
The Afghan constitution is our national honor that has
set a framework, and is a social and legal instrument, for guaranteeing
sovereignty, rights, and freedom of our citizens. Any reform in the political
system must be made based on the constitution and be an effort deriving from
the determination of our people that strengthens our national unity, protects
state sovereignty, territorial integrity and provides safeguards for human and
civil rights of both our men and women. If so, it is good and we are absolutely
ready for that.
Ladies and gentlemen, here I would like to reiterate
that the forthcoming elections for president and provincial councils would be
held according to the constitution and on the dates announced by the
Independent Electoral Commission.
Candidates should manage and run their electoral
campaigns as per the laws. The government has to ensure security for the
elections so that our people would be able to freely participate and cast their
votes in the elections across the country. All relevant institutions of the
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan have been instructed as required in this
respect and the work remained is still ongoing to this end.
The international community and
the United Nations had a clear role in the conduct of our past elections. It is
unfortunate to say that their involvement not only resulted in running the
election costs very high for Afghanistan—a poor country in the world—but also
paved grounds for widespread foreign interferences in the electoral process.
Due to the high expense of arrangements and organizing
of our last parliamentary elections, every single vote cost around $40 for
Afghanistan. In a great country like India, every single vote costs less than
one dollar while every vote costs around $40 or $30 for us. Our poor and needy
nation must spend according to its incomes. We must manage, Afghanize, and
conduct our elections efficiently. The ex-director of IEC is present in here,
the current director of the Commission, and Mr. Najafi, who was the head of the
IEC Secretariat are also here. They are well aware that how much the elections
cost us.
So, I wish that we Afghanize our elections and reduce
electoral costs in the future, adjusting its arrangements in accordance with
our means and capacity. Afghanistan’s elections also must not be a funding
source for salaries paid to the staff of international organizations. We should
take into account the realities of our country. We should manage to avoid
unnecessary and additional expenses by Afghanizing the way elections are
conducted and organized here.
Honorable chair, MPs, ladies, and gentlemen,
In the past ten years, we have had great economic
achievements and great gains in governance. A few days ago, I was informed that
Afghanistan has secured second rank in transparency of budget management among
South Asian states. An international body has announced that, and our minister
of finance is aware. It is good news for us. It means we have improved our
capacity and day by day we are further developing it. Our gross domestic income
has increased from 183 billion Afs in 1384 to one trillion Afs in 1391. One
trillion is equivalent to 1,000 billion. So, we have increased our gross
domestic income from 183 billion to 1,000 billion Afs. So, it is good news for
our country. If our country continues to develop so for another ten years under
a new president, under a new government with a new thinking, we are confident
that we will witness a twofold or threefold increase in our incomes.
Fortunately, today we have $6.5 billion in our bank
reserves. In principle, it means that if a country has funds to cover its costs
for six months, the country is successful. We have funds to cover our expenses
for nearly one year and a half or two years. God forbid, if anything goes wrong
and if Afghanistan has no income, it will be able to survive very well on its
reserves for one year and a half, or two years.
Honorable representatives, senators, speakers of both
Houses of Parliament,
Our country is once again at the threshold of a very
sensitive stage of history, transition from such a critical phase as well as
peace and stability depends on the collaboration and cooperation of state
institutions of Afghanistan.
I absolutely believe that with full knowledge of their
legal responsibilities, representatives of our people in both houses of the
National Assembly would not spare any efforts to this end.
The electoral bills and other draft laws that would be
part of the working agenda of the National Assembly are of significant
importance for continuation and consolidation of our legal system. Remarkable
attention to this issue will enable us to fill our legal gaps, strengthening
and solidifying more than ever a law-abiding system through the rule of law.
To fulfill this desire, we inaugurate the third year
of the sixteenth legislative session of the National Assembly in the name of
Almighty Allah and based on the provisions of our constitution.
I thank God for giving our nation this blessing of
being able to take its political destinies on its own.
Availing this opportunity here, I thank the people of
Afghanistan for their sacrifices, bravery, patience, and tolerance, and for
going through much hardship and devastation of this war on terror, and the loss
of their and their families’ lives. I also appreciate all losses and
self-sacrifices of Afghan security forces that fight with patriotism and valor
to protect their country, life, and property of the people. I am grateful to
all those of our security forces who have even sacrificed their lives until now
and to many of our scholars, elders,
mothers, and sons lost lives in the past years.
Our representatives at the
National Assembly of Afghanistan—both Lower and Upper Houses [Wolesi Jirga and
Mishrano Jirga] and provincial councils, state officials, judges of our Supreme
Court, attorneys, all the people of Afghanistan, and all state institutions
have made sacrifices on this path.
Undoubtedly, the sacrifices we
have made are not wasted. Results of those sacrifices are the newly blossomed
flowers of progress and prosperity of our nation that we are approaching day by
day.
We thank the international community represented by
diplomats and officers here who helped Afghanistan in education and development
in the past ten years.
This year, the [Afghan] government has increased its
ad hoc budget to $15 million in scholarship for higher education for our youth
to study abroad. Increasing the budget from $5 million to $10 million during
the last one and half year and from that to $15 million this year. Through this
program, our highly educated fellow-country youth will return home.
We thank our
youth and international colleagues. Long live the nation of Afghanistan! We
hope that we spend this year at service of our homeland and conduct such
elections that will be good for the people.
You are most welcome! All the best!
Thanks a lot!