Dr Spanta takes part in Roundtable with Nordic State Secretaries

Excellencies, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,


I am really delighted to be participating in this important meeting. I consider it a good omen, or just a lucky coincidence, that my visit to Stockholm coincided with your meeting here. As you will know, I am here on a Nordic visit and obviously I couldn’t have wished for a better opportunity than this to get all the five Nordic partners together in one place during my visit.


By the way, I must say to my Icelandic colleagues here that, despite my personal wish, a trip to Rykjavik could not be organised on this occasion. But this is not a reflection whatsoever of the importance we attach to our partnership with Iceland as part of the Nordic region.


Ladies and gentlemen,


Earlier this afternoon, I was at Stockholm University and there I talked about our achievements in Afghanistan as well as the challenges that remained. With a keenly informed group such as you here, I shouldn’t spend much time talking about what we have accomplished together in Afghanistan over the past six years.


Nonetheless, given the pressure of negative media coverage nowadays, and the misperception that our challenges today are somewhat unsurpassable, it would be useful to remind ourselves of our achievements each time we meet for an event like this one.


Only six years ago, Afghanistan was a geography without a state; it was an economic backwater; a nation of impoverished, oppressed people with no control over their destiny, and no clear direction for the future. More than half of our population, namely our women, was shut out of public life. A crazy tyrannical regime, associated with a dangerous international terrorist network, and supported by some ambitious state entities in our region, had taken my country and my people hostage.


Six and half years later, today we have reclaimed our place as a sovereign nation, and have taken significant steps towards establishing one of the youngest democracies of the world. For brevity’s sake, I shall refrain from giving you any statistics here, but suffice to say what we have accomplished in the areas of education, health, freedom of speech and political participation and economic regeneration, is simply historical.


May I hasten to say that these achievements would not have been possible without, on the one hand, the strong determination of the Afghan people and, on the other hand, a generous, steadfast support we received from the international community over the past six years. Needless to say that the role of the Nordic countries in this effort has been truly exemplary. From deploying your young sons and daughters to our towns and districts in order to secure the lives of our people, to providing generous financial assistance to the process of Afghanistan’s rebuilding, you have made an enormous contribution for which we are very grateful.


Ladies and gentlemen,


Our achievements are significant indeed, but not yet irreversible. The young steps we have taken towards stability, democracy and prosperity can still be reversed if some of the remaining challenges are not addressed adequately. These challenges are mainly in the security sphere, but there are also challenges in the development and governance areas.


In the security area, we must address the challenge posed by a continuation of terrorism by broadening the scope of the war against terrorism. From solely concentrating on the removal of the symptoms of terrorism, we must put more emphasis on addressing the sources, where terrorists get indoctrinated, trained, financed and equipped. A regional focus on the sanctuaries and the infrastructure that sustain terrorism will, therefore, be essential.


On the other hand, the process of Afghan-i-sation in the security field must be accelerated. The Afghan national army is eager to take on more responsibility and can do so provided that they have good equipment, including weaponry and transport enablers. I am pleased that some Nordic partners are taking steps in the direction of equipping the ANA. Needless to say that putting the Afghan institutions on the frontline will not just reduce casualties, both civilian and military, but would also increase the credibility and effectiveness of the fight against terrorism.


Of course you are aware of our deep concern for the lack of progress on the police training and development. In many ways, the absence of a credible, functioning police force lies at the heart of many of our challenges in all other areas: from security to development, from governance to the fight against drugs. We expect that our Nordic partners will help and encourage the EU to expedite and expand its police support programme in Afghanistan.


Ladies and gentlemen,


While the challenges in the governance area are mostly for the Afghan Government to address, and we will need your understanding and support as we go about addressing them. Most of our governance institutions, across all the three branches of state, are at the stage of infancy and need time and effort to mature. On the national level, the most important challenge ahead of us is the upcoming elections. While the first round of elections in any post-war nation are important, the second round is mostly vital. We will depend on generous financial, technical and political support of the Nordic partners for the successful conduct of our next elections.


At the provincial and local levels, the most important investment in the governance sector is to continue to strengthen the state institutions to deliver proper dispensation of justice as well as the basic social services. Your continued consideration of channelling your aid through the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund and other approaches that result in the strengthening of state structure, will be appreciated.


However, above all, it is the area of development and the further strengthening of the development agenda in Afghanistan that the Nordic countries can play an invaluable role. In our view, six and half years into the process, the development programme in Afghanistan is still fragmented, un-strategic and wasteful. Despite our efforts to put in place mechanisms for coordination of development efforts, including a central budgetary process, not all our partners share a commitment to coordinate. As a result, with more than six years and many billions of dollars of aid money gone, our development achievements are still fragile. The Afghan people are already beginning to ask questions. It is time aid effectiveness became a central concern for our donors.


In this context, the role of the Nordic countries is indeed significant, whether in ensuring aid effectiveness or in showing us how coordination and complementarity can be made more effective. We would like to build on your capacities, your experience, and the comparative advantages you have in the development field, as an important asset. We believe, in addition to the individual contribution you make, there is added value to be had in the Nordic region working collectively as a block in Afghanistan. We don’t just benefit from you money, or the way your provide that help; we also need your collective voice.


We would like our Nordic partners together to be part of a more organised effort, alongside the Afghan government and other partners from around the world, to lead the development agenda in Afghanistan. I am sure you share my concern that, these days, security and the war against terrorism are dominating Afghanistan’s perception around the world. This maybe a true reflection of the realities on the ground, but it is also the reason why we should refocus on the development programme. The forthcoming conference in Paris in June this year would be one good opportunity to do so. We in Afghanistan depend on the support and commitment of our friends in the Nordic region.


And finally, I would like to assure you, on behalf of my President and the government of Afghanistan of our absolute determination to live by our commitments and obligations in this joint effort.


I look forward to hearing your reflections and to discussing with you any specific issues that might be of importance to you.


Thank you.





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