Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-10-26-Speech-3-298"
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"en.20051026.20.3-298"2
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".
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I regret to say that I was unable to participate in the elections in Afghanistan: I would have done so most willingly, but Parliament’s d’Hondt system did not permit me.
I am truly convinced that the changes underway in Afghanistan are concrete, effective and real. They are, however, slow, difficult and complicated. An example of the growth of democracy comes, in fact, from a girl, Malalaia Joya, a 26-year-old whom I got to know when she was an 18-year-old in Afghanistan, secretly involved in women’s education, and who has now been elected into a difficult province in Afghanistan. It was she who, amongst other things, said two years ago in the Loya Jirga, with great clarity: ‘The warlords are still here.’
The fact that a woman like this, with all the hardship and intimidation she must have suffered, can succeed in being elected – and I am sure she will contribute towards the building of democracy in Afghanistan – is an extraordinary fact, and why in my opinion these elections have been positive. I too would like to thank Mrs Bonino – whom I trust, even though we disagree on many issues, such as the Middle East, but in whose democratic nature I have total faith – for her presence in Afghanistan, and I am delighted that the European Union was able to play so positive a role.
If Malalaia Joya is an example of the new Afghanistan, so too is Omar, a boy I got to know when the Taliban were still there, and who said: ‘I want to live: it is not only for the women that I am fighting against the Taliban, it is also for myself, because I do not want to have a beard and I want to listen to music.’ He too has been elected, which represents, to my mind, another extremely positive fact.
We cannot, however, ignore the complex and difficult choices faced by President Karzai, who has not in fact chosen to punish the warlords, as Human Rights Watch, for example, would have him do, but rather has gone down what is perhaps the only road currently available to him, namely permitting the warlords to be elected as well.
I believe, furthermore, that there is a serious problem with, for example, the International Security Assistance Force, which is undeniably playing an extremely positive role, though I personally am against all war and all military involvement. The role, however, carried out by the US forces is unhelpful to conflict resolution, reconciliation, and the development of Afghanistan. I am not just referring to the horror of seeing the two burnt Taliban bodies – or so-called Taliban, because in the end they are all considered such – but am referring to the absence of lawfulness and lack of rules, seen, for example, in the prison at Bagram, where the Taliban are being held with no system of checks.
It is precisely because we need to reason, understand and change together that I believe we should not hide away from truths which, judging by the reactions of the Afghans that we have seen on television, may create conflict. In that regard, I believe the role played by the EU is very important in this matter. I wish to thank not only the Commissioner but also the whole European Union, which is working in an alternative way to ensure that Afghanistan is favourable towards democracy. In order to achieve this objective, however, we need to work very hard to support public institutions, so that both NGOs and civil society may somehow make themselves heard."@en1
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