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