UNAMA - GUIDANCE FOR JUNE 30 SECURITY COUNCIL

UNCLAS STATE 066733 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AA PGOV PREL UNAUS UNGA UNSC AF SUBJECT: UNAMA - GUIDANCE FOR JUNE 30 SECURITY COUNCIL CONSULTATIONS ¶1. (U) This is an action request: USUN is instructed to draw from the points below during UN Security Council consultations on the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) scheduled for June 30, 2009. ¶2. (U) Begin points: Mr. President, -- The United States would like to thank Special Representative Kai Eide for his comprehensive briefing today and for his overall efforts as head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). The United States reiterates its strong support for UNAMA as it pursues the goals enumerated in Security Council resolution 1868 together with the international community and the Government of Afghanistan. Much work remains for us moving forward as we assist the Afghan government to better service and protect its people. Mr. President, -- On the heels of the launch of our own strategic policy in Afghanistan, the Hague Ministerial and the Paris Conference earlier this month, the United States welcomes the Secretary-General's first quarterly report on the situation in Afghanistan. As the Secretary-General's reports indicates, while the security situation remains challenging, our partnership is making progress as we continue to work to address key security, humanitarian, human rights, and governance concerns on the ground. Of the many outcomes of the Ministerial, the international community spoke with a strong and unified voice - UNAMA will continue to play a key role in Afghanistan's security and development. In particular, the international community clearly put UNAMA in the lead for coordinating international action and assistance in support of the Government of Afghanistan. -- President Obama has made Afghanistan one of his top foreign policy priorities and our goals are clear - to disrupt, defeat and dismantle al Qaeda, and to build the capacity of the Afghan government to secure its people and secure its territory. UNAMA is doing great work and will continue to be key to reaching each of these goals and ideals. -- With this context in mind, I would like to comment on a few of the key areas mentioned in the Secretary-General's report and on other issues that the United States believes are of particular importance, including funding and UNAMA's expansion. -- Afghanistan's nascent government has opportunities with its Presidential elections in August to give a voice to its people and to prove to the international community its commitment to democracy and good governance. We, the international community and UNAMA, can and must help them succeed. We applaud UNAMA's efforts in this regard to promote a credible, secure and inclusive election process. As described in the Secretary-General's report, we welcome the establishment of the Political Rights Monitoring program which will work to monitor the protection of freedoms of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and movement as well as non-intimidation, non-partiality, and non-discrimination. We urge the government of Afghanistan to fully enforce its Non-Intervention in the Election Affairs of 2009 decree. -- We also welcome UNAMA's efforts to encourage Afghan women to participate in the political process, as candidates and as voters. We are also working in parallel to empower women and end gender-discrimination in Afghanistan. The President's Ambassador at large for Global Women's Issues completed a trip to Afghanistan just yesterday during which she promoted the launch of our 27 million dollar grants program to support gender equality by strengthening Afghan-led civil society organizations through providing technical assistance and small grants to Afghan NGOs. Mr. President, -- UNAMA will only be as effective as its resources and presence throughout Afghanistan allow. In this regard, we welcome UNAMA,s increased leadership in donor coordination and we have committed ourselves to new levels of cooperation and transparency as we work with UNAMA and other donors. In addition, we believe it is critical to coordinate capitals' preparation of their 2009-2013 assistance plan with the Government of Afghanistan and between donors. We believe that donor implementation meetings at the international level would help achieve this goal and supplement coordination in the field. This step is necessary to help donors align their high-level plans and funding requests with Afghan priorities. -- Expanding UNAMA throughout Afghanistan's regions and provinces as called for in UNSCR 1868 is also essential. Fulfilling the recommendations by the Secretary-General for 11 additional offices is a good start. While we continue to fight the Taliban and other insurgents, and combat drug trafficking and other organized crime, we cannot succeed in Afghanistan if we do not build the capacity to empower the Afghan government and society. As we focus on civilian reconstruction, good governance, anti-corruption and building systems and mechanisms that promote accountability, we will need to ensure their implementation throughout the country. In particular, this means opening UNAMA offices in each of Afghanistan,s provinces. In addition, the proposed civilian increase to implement an enhanced and targeted capacity-building program is in response to the Afghan government's specific requests and geographic priorities. UNAMA must be at the heart of coordinating international aspects of the civilian increase, but it must be the Afghan government that takes ownership in order for it to be effective. A dramatic increase of civilian expertise is needed to facilitate the development of key systems and institutions, further develop basic infrastructure, and create lawful economic alternatives. -- The UN's parallel efforts through its "local procurement campaign with members of the Government, donors and a number of Afghan private sector suppliers, which is intended to encourage the international community to buy Afghan products and reduce reliance on more expensive imports" is a creative program that will also support UNAMA's efforts. Similarly, our Ambassador in Kabul is very supportive of efforts to increase bilateral and regional trade possibilities, including U.S. purchases from Afghan producers and businesses. We will also do our part to increase regional trade possibilities through the launch of a Regional Infrastructure and Trade Development initiative and encouraging Afghanistan and Pakistan to conclude an updated Transit Trade treaty. Creating agricultural jobs and developing agriculture will require improved technology and marketing, building infrastructure such as irrigation, rural electrification, farm to market roads, and cold storage. -- Beyond UNAMA, the UN's Regional Centre for Preventative Diplomacy in Central Asia (UNRCCA) and its focus on Afghanistan issues is welcome. But Afghanistan's neighbors in Central Asia are also key to its success. We hope that regional countries will consider making contributions, which can range from regional experts to financial assistance. Mr. President, -- The United States would also be remiss not to comment on the report's characterization of civilian casualties. The United States deeply regrets any injury or loss of life among innocent Afghans from operations in which its forces are involved. We regard any loss of innocent human life as tragic and we attempt to promptly provide humanitarian assistance to affected communities after incidents have occurred. We take all reports of such incidents seriously and investigate them thoroughly. We have conducted, and will continue to conduct joint investigations with the Afghan government to determine exactly what happened in each incident involving allegations of civilian casualties. -- U.S. and international forces take extensive precautions to avoid loss of life among Afghan civilians as well as international and Afghan forces during operations against insurgents and terrorists. In fact, shortly after assuming command of USFOR-A and ISAF on June 14, General Stanley McChrystal announced that reducing civilian casualties - an issue which also undermines Afghan popular and government backing for all that we do together - is a top priority as he pursues the necessary military effort to provide a secure environment for strengthening Afghanistan's society and government. We must not forget, however, that in pursuing these goals we are also fighting against an enemy, namely the Taliban and other militants, which employs appalling tactics, including the use of child soldiers as suicide bombers and non-combatant civilians as human shields. Most civilian causalities in Afghanistan are, in fact, caused by insurgents and not by the international forces who are working to improve the Afghan government,s capacity to protect the Afghan people. Mr. President, -- For the sake of the Afghan people, for the sake of the region, to ensure international peace and stability in a volatile region of the world, we must succeed in Afghanistan. The international community has made it clear that UNAMA is a guiding force in achieving our goals. The United States is steadfast in its support of the Afghan people as they overcome the challenges of the past 30-years and work with the international community to defeat a common enemy. CLINTON