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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #6733 1772248
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 262224Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0000
INFO UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL IMMEDIATE 0000

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