17 June 2003
Negroponte Says More Resources Needed in Afghanistan
(Remarks to U.N. Security Council on Afghanistan) (1500)
The international community "should do more, and we should do it
better" to help Afghanistan end illicit opium production, U.S.
Ambassador the United Nations John Negroponte said June 17.
In a speech to the Security Council, Negroponte said that "trade in
Afghan opiates generates funds that corrupt institutions, finance
terrorism and insurgency, and destabilize the region. These funds also
support the organized crime syndicates involved in the gray arms
market. Moreover, the opium trade spreads drug abuse and HIV/AIDS
across the region, including to Russia and Europe."
Stressing that Afghanistan's opium economy cannot be addressed in
isolation, Negroponte said that trafficking in neighboring states
needs to be dealt with and counter-narcotic efforts cannot succeed
until basic security and rule of law are established in areas outside
of Kabul.
The ambassador said that United States is contributing more than $60
million for counter-narcotics program and police training, helping to
expand police training in the provinces, working to establish the
border police, and is committed to working with Pakistan and
Afghanistan's Central Asian neighbors to strengthen legal and
institutional capacities.
"It is ultimately the resources we devote to dealing with
Afghanistan's serious problems that will make a decisive difference,"
Negroponte said. "In addition to the considerable outlay for Operation
Enduring Freedom, the United States will expend almost a billion
dollars this year on reconstruction, humanitarian relief, and for
budget support in Afghanistan."
Following is the transcript of the ambassador's remarks:
(begin transcript)
Remarks by Ambassador John D. Negroponte, United States Permanent
Representative to the United Nations, on the Situation in Afghanistan,
Security Council, June 17, 2003.
Thank you, Mr. President, for hosting this meeting today on the
pressing problem of Afghan narcotics. I also would like to join my
other colleagues in expressing my appreciation and the appreciation of
our delegation for the fine work that Ambassador Wang of China has
carried out here during his tenure as Permanent Representative of his
country to the United Nations. We will miss your wise council and I
have very fond memories of the work we have done together here. I
would also like to join our colleagues in welcoming Mr. Heraldo Munoz
of Chile as he takes up his responsibilities as Representative of his
country.
Mr. President, the 2003 Afghan opium poppy harvest may be as large as
that of 2002, which was a record year. The resurgence of opium poppy
cultivation further erodes the security environment in Afghanistan,
and threatens reconstruction efforts. The message here is that we
should do more, and we should do it better.
Trade in Afghan opiates generates funds that corrupt institutions,
finance terrorism and insurgency, and destabilize the region. These
funds also support the organized crime syndicates involved in the gray
arms market. Moreover, the opium trade spreads drug abuse and HIV/AIDS
across the region, including to Russia and Europe.
A shift in opium poppy cultivation from prime agricultural land to
more remote areas, as reported in the April 2003 UN Office of Drugs
and Crime Opium Rapid Assessment, is an alarming trend; on the
positive side, it shows that poppy production is being pushed into
more marginal areas; but also demonstrates the need to mainstream
counternarcotics programs into overall development assistance and the
urgent need to establish law and order in rural areas.
The opium economy cannot be addressed in isolation. Enforcement of the
poppy ban needs be increased, farmers require viable options for licit
crops, and credit is needed for rural Afghanistan. As we fight
production in Afghanistan, we also need to deal with trafficking in
neighboring states.
Counternarcotics efforts will be most successful in the larger context
of economic and democratic reform, but cannot succeed until basic
security and rule of law are established in areas outside of Kabul.
The United States is committed to helping build the Afghan
Transitional Authority's capacity to run effective counternarcotics
programs and reduce poppy cultivation and trade through alternative
livelihood programs, and we are working with the Transitional
Authority to build a National Police Force.
My government supports the United Nations -- United Kingdom's -- lead
on counternarcotics and the German lead on police training, and we are
showing this support with more than $60 million in funding in these
areas.
My government also supports many projects developed by the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. We are contributing to alternative
development, drug treatment and reduction programs and we are helping
build Afghan national capacities for drug policy-making and drug
enforcement.
In coordination with the German government, we are implementing a $26
million police and justice program that includes equipment and
training for the Afghan police, and the establishment of an
identification card system and a communications network for the
police. We are in the process of planning, with our German colleagues,
an expansion of police training in the provinces.
Outside of Kabul, including in Afghanistan's neighboring states, we
need to seek new ways and methods of joining forces - through
coordination, better information-sharing, regional approaches, and,
when the circumstances are right, through combined or joint
operations, as we have done on certain occasions.
The United States strongly supports the UN Office of Drugs and Crime
in Afghanistan as well as the proposals of the Paris Pact put forward
by Executive Director Costa in Paris last month.
My government is also committed to helping establish the Border
Police, and we are working closely with Germany and the rest of the
international community to coordinate assistance for this important
function. We are providing communications equipment to the launch of
the Border Police take-over of Kabul International Airport as of June
1.
And we remain committed to working with Pakistan and Afghanistan's
Central Asian neighbors to strengthen legal and institutional
capacities to confront the drug trafficking that poses as much a
threat to their own integrity as it does to that of Afghanistan.
We urge Council members and other member states, especially those most
threatened by the trade in heroin originating in Afghanistan, to join
in combating this evil trade before its influence becomes even more
pervasive.
The United States remains concerned at the upswing in violence in both
Kabul and the provinces, most recently with a suicide attack, which
killed four German ISAF personnel on June 7. Taliban and al Qaida
elements now appear to be targeting foreigners -- military and
civilian -- rather than engaging Coalition forces. Coalition forces
continue to root out these elements in the field while the Afghan
National Army and Afghan police are trained. The Afghan National Army
has deployed some of its first trained units to work with U.S. Special
Forces, most notably in Bamian, and has received high marks; the
Afghan National Army has also suffered its first casualties from
hostile fire.
We have helped to stand up three Provincial Reconstruction Teams, or
PRTs, in Gardez, Bamian, and Konduz. And eight, a total of eight such
teams, are currently planned with an option for creating more of them.
We are looking at ways to improve these teams and enhance their
capabilities. We believe the Provincial Reconstruction Teams have made
significant contributions to stability within their area of
operations, and we are working with other countries to lead additional
such teams.
With regard to the national elections to be held in June 2004 as
called for by the Bonn Agreement, we are told that UNAMA has begun
preparatory work, including voter education and registration programs.
However, we have yet to see a formal plan and the associated budget
for this effort, and time is growing short. We understand the United
Nations' Electoral Assistance Division proposes to fund UNAMA's
activities in this area out of voluntary contributions at a cost which
is estimated at more than $100 million. The United States urges all
countries to provide the maximum financial support possible for the
electoral process in Afghanistan.
We note with concern that the Afghan Transitional Authority is facing
a shortfall of $181 million in their recurring budget. It is
critically important that donors accelerate pledges to the Afghanistan
Reconstruction Trust Fund and identify additional funds to cover this
gap. The United States will soon disperse $20 million to the Trust
Fund and will review possible additional contributions. We would urge
other member countries in a position to do so to contribute to the
Afghanistan Reconstruction Fund as soon as possible.
Finally Mr. President, while our policy discussions here in the
Council today are important, it is ultimately the resources we devote
to dealing with Afghanistan's serious problems that will make a
decisive difference. In addition to the considerable outlay for
Operation Enduring Freedom, the United States will expend almost a
billion dollars this year on reconstruction, humanitarian relief, and
for budget support in Afghanistan. We invite Council members and other
member states to provide timely and significant financial support as
well.
Thank you again, Mr. President, for the opportunity to speak on this
topic.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
