MAKING THE DREAM OF AFGHANISTAN A REALITY

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

HAMID KARZAI , PRESIDENT, AFGHANISTAN

India Today, Section: India Tomorrow: Perception vs Reality

Democracy, as a system of government, may indeed be unprecedented in
Afghanistan. But democracy, as a way of life, has always been there. A set
of principles and values is embedded in our society. We are a country of
councils, for which Afghanistan has been known for centuries. The Afghan
people have always consulted each other and come up with decisions
regarding difficulties.

We are, as a people, a deeply believing Muslim society, yet a country with
values that understand and appreciate democratic practices. That is what
has enabled the Afghan people to come forward and participate in the
October 2004 general elections. The polls, therefore, were a victory for
democracy. Equally, this was an emphatic rejection of extremism.

In Afghanistan, extremism is the legacy of the tribulations of the past 25
years. It did not originate in Afghanistan. The country's troubles began
at the height of the Cold War when the former Soviet Union invaded our
country trying to impose an alien ideology. We waged a 10-year jehad in
which we received backing from many of our neighbours and the West. While
the world's help was crucial in enabling us to push back the Red Army from
Afghanistan, it also opened the country to a parallel invasion, this time
by extremists. Many of our benefactors in the war against the Soviet Union
either actively propelled extremism as an instrument to fight communism or
ignored it. Amid this, the Afghan people endured unspeakable horrors.

Our miseries were compounded when, after the withdrawal of the Soviet
Army, the world turned a blind eye to the residues of the war.

Foreign extremists found a haven in our country, where the state was
crippled and the society reduced to bankruptcy. The world woke up to the
gravity of the situation in Afghanistan only after the 9/11 attack.

We had warned the world of the dangers of terrorism much before ... but
nobody took notice. That happened because the world did not look at our
plight from a moral point of view, but from a very narrow point of view.
Our way forward is to look at the world from a moral point of view. We, in
Afghanistan, with the help of the US and the rest of the international
community have fought and won the first part of the battle against
terrorism. And extremism. We are now working to win a bigger, long-term
struggle for rebuilding Afghanistan. Today, I witness the future of my
country unfolding. It is a future full of promises.

Since the liberation of our country three years ago, we have taken steady
steps towards creating a legitimate government, putting in place strong
and effective institutions and reviving the war-shattered economy with the
help of the international community, including India. During this period,
we held two successful Loya Jirgas, ratified a Constitution, conducted
national presidential elections and established a democratic government.

Our new Constitution is progressive. It recognises our cultural heritage.
It provides women with at least 27 per cent of seats in Parliament. The
Constitution also provides for democratic elections. The first elections
prove that the people were not only ready but also very desirous of
participating in it. We saw that the women of Afghanistan were no fewer
than men. Of the 8.2 million voters, 42 per cent were women. We have
established an independent Election Commission that has the task of
holding all the elections. We have also tried to reform the army and the
police, the civil services and the judiciary. Several economic projects
are on. Reconstruction is happening. Roads are being rebuilt. Foreign
companies are working in Afghanistan, providing us with better
opportunities. Afghanistan is connecting many countries, giving
opportunities to our neighbours and benefiting itself from this vast
opportunity presented by the new reality. And once our road networks are
completed, the country will be connecting Central Asia to South Asia and
to the Middle East together. Afghanistan will become one of the easiest
transit routes for the region.

Afghanistan is a good marketplace as well. Ours is an unexplored country.
It has mineral wealth. It has resources and it has the potential for
investment. We are working on the trans-Afghanistan pipeline project, to
carry gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and, hopefully, to India. I hope
Indian business houses will take this opportunity and work together with
their Government to bring this to fruition.

But make no mistake, Afghanistan is not yet out of the woods. There are
still many, many things to do. Our country, by all development indicators,
is among the poorest countries in the world with low literacy levels. Its
child mortality rate is the highest in the world. The maternal mortality
rate is the highest in the world. The United Nations Development Report
indicates that Afghanistan is, this year, fifth from the bottom on the
list of undeveloped countries. Well, fortunately, we have moved three
steps up from three years ago. In short, Afghanistan is emerging from a
painful past and moving towards a better future. Since we embarked on this
new journey, many new hands have extended us support.

Let us take a moment to see what India has done for Afghanistan in the
past three years. India is building roads for us. India is helping us
build a major highway in the west of our country, construct the Salma
hydroelectricity dam near Herat and build the power transmission line to
Kabul from the north of Afghanistan. More notably, it is helping us
construct our new Parliament. Another crucial area of assistance is the
contribution to our radio and TV stations, which were destroyed during the
war.

In the same spirit, I am delighted to hear of the steps towards better
relations that India and Pakistan have taken over the past few months. We
all realise that establishing a bus link between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad
is not simply about ferrying people from one place to another. It is a
symbolic step, showing the desire of the people of India and Pakistan for
better, more interconnected and more prosperous lives.

Also, the emergence of a stable, democratic, and thriving Afghanistan,
eager to cooperate, is a great opportunity for the region. May we hope
that a shared vision for the future will bring us together so that all of
us can live in this region in peace and prosperity.

Let us all come together to show to the world that we are one strong,
happy and beautiful region.

DISCUSSION

Q. The Americans are talking about the moderate Taliban. Do you believe
there is such a creature?

Karzai: There are thousands of Talibs who are ordinary people. All of them
are not criminals. This is their country. But we won't allow those
associated with Al-Qaida to enter the country.

Q. How are you going to tackle the menace of the narcotics trade?

Karzai: Drugs are the real danger. If we don't stop those involved in this
trade, they are going to feed extremism. They are going to finance
terrorism and they are going to pull us down in Afghanistan and harm the
region as well.

Q. Is the basis of education in your country secular in nature?

Karzai: We teach the values of Islam. But we also teach science, maths,
history and all those subjects taught in schools elsewhere, including
computers.