By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer
Washington — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton praised the Afghan government’s proposals to the 40 international delegations at a conference in Kabul on how it will improve governance and reduce corruption, and said the plan has the support of the United States.
Speaking to reporters at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul July 20, Clinton said the conference, the largest international gathering ever held in Kabul, had been “a real milestone” and “a turning point” for the country, with a show of support for Afghanistan from a broad coalition of nations and “very well thought-out plans” that were presented by President Hamid Karzai.
The Karzai government pledged to improve governance in Afghanistan by implementing legislation to define a major crimes task force and an anti-corruption tribunal, combating cash smuggling, and improving financial audits of government ministries and lower-level government offices. The plan follows President Karzai’s decree prohibiting nepotism in the Afghan government.
At the conference, the Afghan government and the international community also agreed on a plan to transition military operations in all of Afghanistan’s provinces to Afghan control by the end of 2014.
Karzai offered “a comprehensive plan, the likes of which we haven’t seen before,” Clinton said. “It was much more detailed and specific, with accountability built into it.”
The secretary praised “very competent people who put this together for the government,” and said the United States will do everything it can to support the plan.
Speaking at the conference earlier in the day, Clinton said the international community is now “following Afghanistan’s lead” and is aligning its resources behind Afghan goals and policies.
“Today we join in launching what the Afghan government has termed ‘the Kabul process.’ It is a process that reflects a commitment to accountability, including clear benchmarks and milestones. And indeed, this conference is about accountability — accountability for the United States, for the United Nations, for members of the international community, and for the Afghan government,” she said.
While encouraging Afghan efforts to improve governance and fight corruption, Clinton warned that there are no shortcuts in that effort, and said the Afghan people and the international community are both expecting results. But “as the government takes the steps it must to address this challenge, it can count on the United States for support,” she said.
The Kabul conference “makes it clear the world is with Afghanistan and the world stands in opposition to the common threat and the common enemy that stalks us all,” Clinton said. Men and women from around the world have joined their Afghan counterparts not only in fighting the Taliban, but also in efforts to improve health, education, governance and other non-military efforts.
Many around the world are counting on Afghanistan’s success, she said, and “too many nations, especially Afghanistan, have suffered too many losses to see this country slide backward.”
WOMEN’S RIGHTS WILL NOT BE SACRIFICED
The secretary also noted that as the Afghan government pursues its program to urge Taliban fighters to make peace and rejoin their communities, Karzai has stated that “the rights of women, Afghan ethnic groups and civil society will not be sacrificed in pursuit of reintegration and reconciliation.”
Afghan women and civil society will be essential to the country’s success, Clinton said, recalling her years of observing and participating in post-conflict reconciliation efforts in the Balkans, Northern Ireland, Africa and Latin America.
“If these groups are fully empowered to help build a just and lasting peace, they will help do so. But if they are silenced and pushed to the margins of Afghan society, the prospects for peace and justice will be subverted,” she said.
Clinton said she had met with a delegation of Afghan women leaders earlier in the day where she announced new U.S. funding to improve maternal and child health in the country.
“We will double our support for the Ministry of Public Health’s Community Midwifery Education Program and begin a new Community Nursing Education Program. And we will increase funding to programs that support gender equality in Afghanistan and an advocacy campaign to encourage religious leaders and influential members of communities across the country to encourage women and their families to access maternal health services,” she said.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the United States is committing $37 million over the next four years to increase the number of women in health professions, especially midwifery. The country continues to suffer from one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with one in eight women dying during childbirth, AFP said. The news report added that the average life expectancy for women in Afghanistan is 44 years. |
