Strasbourg, 10/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - Over the last half-century, few countries have lived through such a tormented history as Afghanistan: the development of democracy and its long and methodical reconstruction have had less media attention than the war, but they deserve the full attention and support of the European Union. These were the words of welcome of the President of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell, to the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, on the first ever visit of the latter to the European Parliament.
Taking the floor two days after the anniversary of the end of the Second World War, Mr Karzai several times established parallels between his country and Europe sixty years ago: “then, a long-term commitment from your friends gave you the support you needed to rebuild your lives. Today, we are asking for that same opportunity”, said Mr Karzai, thanking Europe for all it had done for his country.
Afghanistan was still an under-developed country before the Soviet invasion, President Karzai acknowledged, but its desire for democracy won the upper hand and Afghanistan now has an “enlightened and progressive constitution”, and in October 2004, 8 million citizens took part in the first ever presidential elections, with women making up 42% of the turnout. It is thanks to the International Security Assistance Force that Afghanistan has been able to rely on a safe environment to exercise its political rights, reform its police and its army and speed up the process of disarmament (around 50,000 former soldiers have been disarmed), Mr Karzai explained. The Afghan President also pointed out that the Human Rights Commission had done its job; press freedom was developing, with over 300 independent newspapers, some thirty radio stations and 4 television channels. Economically speaking, new currency has been introduced, inflation has stabilised and administrative reform has allowed foreign capital to enter the country and certain industries to grow up. Trade with other countries of the region has increased, in some cases quite dramatically. Much remains to be done, however, and it is a very long road. This was the main thrust of the speech by the Afghan President, who referred to the social sphere, education (with an allusion to the high rate of illiteracy, especially among women). And although terrorism “has been defeated as a force”, its residues are disturbing Afghanistan's peace and tranquillity, Mr Karzai admitted, criticising the destabilising effect of the “drug economy”. He spoke eloquently of Afghan's farming society of thirty years ago, before the Soviet invasion destroyed it and it lost all confidence in the future. Farmers have destroyed their own vines and their apricot and pomegranate crops to replace them with poppies, which are easy to grow and easy to sell. The Afghan President pleaded for “help replacing the poppy with legitimate products: nobody wants to have a bad name in the world”. From a political point of view, September's parliamentary elections with the objective of ensuring that at least 27% of successful candidates were women (which, as Mr Karzai told the press, is more than there are in certain European countries) will mark the conclusion of the process launched in Bonn: they should not mark an end to the Union's commitment, but the start of a more comprehensive long-term partnership. I hope, said Mr Karzai, that you will see that in order to rebuild our country, we need a multi-year pledge from you. He recognised all that Europe had already given, including its men and women in uniform, who “are serving courageously in our country”.
At the joint press conference, President Borrell pointed out that the Parliament is to send an ad hoc delegation to Afghanistan in July, and that it is also to send a delegation of observers to the legislative elections. When asked about the European Constitution, President Karzai said: “it is a great thing”, if Europe provides itself with a constitution, it will be “a much greater power”, economically and politically; “it will be a magnificent mosaic, a beautiful thing”, a Europe united in its diversity.