6/12/2002
Afghanistan : Anniversary Of Bonn Accord

A year after the signing of the Bonn Accord which detailed the current peace process in Afghanistan, Germany held a follow-up conference in Petersberg near Bonn on December 2. The meeting was opened by Chancellor Schroeder. Participants reviewed the challenges still ahead: reconstruction, human rights, the status of women, development of democratic institutions and the fight against drug trafficking.

One of the most remarkable results of the Bonn-Petersberg conference was the decree adopted by President Karzai establishing a national Afghan army but with a troop strength that is both effective and realistic--70,000 men.

There was also a draft statement on good neighbourly relations which was welcomed by the participants to the conference as being an essential element for regional stability.

Speaking to the conference, the head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Lakhdar Brahimi, said the Bonn Agreement had been "a hopeful yet uncertain beginning" marked by indeterminate prospects for success.

"In many areas, the situation is now much clearer, justifying the optimism felt at the signing of the Bonn Agreement," Mr. Brahimi said, citing advances in the political, humanitarian and cultural realm. Since last year, the country established a transitional administration, while 3 million children went back to school - including more than 1 million girls banned from education under the Taliban regime - and 1.7 million refugees returned to their homeland.

Afghanistan's renewal, he said, is driven by a popular desire for peace and the patient determination needed to rebuild the nation. But, he cautioned, insecurity remains the country's "most dangerous enemy", even if, according to UNAMA, the security situation has improved since the beginning of the disarmament commission's work earlier this month.

"Whether caused by the attacks of extremists, by factional rivalries, abuses of power or common banditry, insecurity and lawlessness undermine the people's confidence in the peace process, hamper economic activities, limit reconstruction assistance [and] threaten the exercise of the most basic human rights and the main objectives of the Bonn process," he said.

Mr. Brahimi offered his full backing to President Hamid Karzai's call for phasing in a national army. "Hardly any project could contribute more to rebuilding the Afghan State, to [repairing] divisions inherited from the civil war and restoring popular confidence in the Government than the creation of truly national security forces," he said.

Pointing out that the gains achieved so far have come thanks to a collective effort involving the Afghans themselves, governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the UN, he urged those at the conference to "continue working in this spirit to achieve lasting peace and stability for the people of Afghanistan."

The Petersburg meeting was attended by representatives of 32 countries, including Afghanistan and the host, Germany.