Ambassador Ludin about Norway's presence in Afghanistan

Norway in Afghanistan

It has been little over one year since I arrived in Norway as Afghanistan’s new Ambassador and, during this period, I have witnessed with appreciation and gratitude the evolution of Norway’s engagement in my country.

By Jawed Ludin


A year ago, Norway was still a major donor to the internationally-sponsored development programme in Afghanistan, as well as an important troop contributor to the NATO-led mission to ensure stability and peace in Afghanistan. This year, thanks to the leadership of the Norwegian government and the foresight and generosity of the Norwegian parliament and public, Afghanistan has been elevated to the single largest recipient of Norway’s military and development assistance.

Afghanistan today is an unprecedented case of international collaboration whose success is vital for the future credibility of such international organisations as NATO and the United Nations, as well as of individual nations that are part of the effort. Therefore, the scaled up engagement of Norway in Afghanistan, while consistent with the celebrated tradition of generosity of the Norwegian people, is also plausible for reasons of international solidarity. Norway today is among forty nations that have deployed military forces to help secure Afghanistan, and among many more that are making financial contributions to the democratisation and economic development of the country.

And if you care to know whether your concern and solidarity are making a real difference, then Afghanistan is the place to look. Over the past six years, the Afghan people have established the foundations of a multiparty electoral democracy, rebuilt Afghanistan’s shattered state and government institutions, and regenerated the country’s bankrupted economy. In a different period of history, it would have taken us decades, if not centuries, to achieve these.

Furthermore, over these six years, school enrolment has grown from under one million male students in 2001, to six and half million today, including over two million females; basic health services have seen a ten fold growth from 8 percent coverage in 2002 to 82 percent today. We have rebuilt Afghanistan’s roads and other infrastructure destroyed by years of war, and attracted billions of dollars of investment in communication and other fields. Our rural development programmes have reached down to villages throughout the country, something that no previous government in the history of Afghanistan ever managed to do.

These are but a few examples of the huge progress we have achieved in Afghanistan, none of which would have been possible without the support we have received from many nations around the world, including Norway. Therefore, if any Norwegian has not heard me do so already, here I once again express the deepest gratitude of the Afghan people for all that Norway has done to help my country.

However, despite the progress, Afghanistan’s future is not yet fully secure. There is a long way to go before our gains become irreversible; before Afghanistan can stand on its own feet; and finally before our friends in the international community can see their mission as accomplished.

Afghanistan is still among the most impoverished countries of the world and it will take many years of hard work by the Afghan people, and significant aid and investment from the international community, for Afghanistan to become a stable and relatively prosperous democracy.

Above all challenges, security remains largely illusive to many Afghans as terrorism continues to make in-roads into the daily lives of our citizens. The Taliban and other terrorist functionaries, recruited, trained, equipped and launched from beyond our borders, are taking an unacceptably heavy toll on the lives of our innocent people, and on the lives of the young men and women in uniform from many nations around the world who have come to help us secure our country.

The persisting environment of insecurity also prevents further consolidation of the rule of law and the implementation of direly needed development programmes in many parts of Afghanistan. While Afghanistan faces different challenges on many fronts, clearly it is the lack of security that lies at the heart of all, constraining our capacity to address challenges on all other fronts.

While the continued presence of international military forces and the effort to rebuild Afghanistan’s destroyed security institutions are vital, destroying the terrorist sanctuaries beyond Afghanistan’s borders will be a deciding factor in our collective fight against international terrorism. As long as those sanctuaries and the extremist circles producing recruitment for the Taliban remain unchallenged, there will be no end to the terrorist onslaught on Afghanistan.

Last month in Paris, foreign ministers and senior representatives from 80 nations and international organisations came together to renew the international community’s continuing commitment in support of Afghanistan. Over 21 billion dollars worth of aid was pledged towards the implementation of Afghanistan’s new development strategy for the next five years. Earlier in the year, at the NATO’s Bucharest Summit in April, heads of state and government from the same nations, had strongly recommitted themselves to the task of Afghanistan’s security, longterm stabilisation and the fight against terrorism.

In both Paris and Bucharest, Norway’s participation, its voice and its contribution were a true source of inspiration. We the Afghan people are proud of our partnership with Norway. We are also pleased that today, in what is a truly global effort to help our country overcome its challenges, countries such as Norway are not only contributing but also leading the way, as exemplary role models, by the strength of their resolve and commitment.

The writer is Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Norway.


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