Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-10-26-Speech-3-306"
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"en.20051026.20.3-306"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, when, last month, I accompanied the delegation led by my fellow Member and friend Mr Salafranca, it was the fifth time in five years that I was returning to this territory, where I have not only visited the capital, but also travelled through most of the country, from the Panjshir valley in the north, to Kandahar, the capital of the Pashtun south, via Herat, Mazar-e Sharif and Bamiyan, the site of the giant Buddhas that fell victim in 2001 to the barbaric stupidity of the Taliban.
On each occasion, I have been struck by the desire for peace and reconciliation felt by the vast majority of the population, a population that has had enough of violence after 30 years of civil war and international war, a population, moreover, that has been vaccinated against any risk of Islamic fundamentalists returning to power, following their suffering under the regime of Mullah Omar.
At each new contact, I can also see how difficult the task of reconstruction still is and how necessary it therefore is for the European Union to continue to provide aid. I will only mention here one aspect of this aid, relating to the restoration of security, which is still too frequently under threat in some provinces. This aid is currently provided by the joint efforts of the national army of Afghanistan and international forces, which are themselves divided into two categories, with different mandates: the coalition, under US command, operating essentially around the border with Pakistan, and the ISAF which, as you said, has a large European majority and is gradually being deployed throughout the rest of the country.
This duality is a source of inefficiency: I welcome the fact that NATO is now planning to bring the mission under a single command, under a new mandate from the United Nations. When it comes to discussing the terms for this, I would like, Commissioner, to act as an interpreter for the Afghan people themselves: they insist on the urgent need for protection from the interference of their neighbours in Pakistan and Iran, and believe that, once this is achieved, they will be able to solve their own problems between themselves."@en1
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