Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUN / AFGHANISTAN
Download
There is no media available to download.
Share
STORY: UN / AFGHANISTAN
TRT: 02:24
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 10 MARCH 2017, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
10 MARCH 2017, NEW YORK CITY
2. Pan left, Security Council moment of silence
3. Med shot, delegates
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Tadamichi Yamamoto, Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan:
“Now is the time for action to deliver concrete outcomes that will improve Afghan lives today and for the future. A major challenge is at hand. The government has to pursue both an inclusive peace process and economic growth against the backdrop of an intensifying insurgency and worsening security. As the Afghan government redoubles its efforts to tackle these challenges, strong international backing – political and financial – is required for the work ahead.”
5. Med shot, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Tadamichi Yamamoto, Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan:
“Developing a nation while fighting an insurgency is an uphill struggle. Improving the security environment is essential to realizing economic growth and delivering on the ambitious plans this country’s citizens deserve.”
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Sima Samar, Chairperson, Commissioner of Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission:
“Last year alone, over 11,000 people were killed and injured in Afghanistan, most of them by armed opposition to the government. The continuation of terrorism and conflict put Afghanistan in danger. The danger of the mere existence of the country, the democratic system, human rights and freedom, and the economy is immense an imminent.”
7. Med shot, delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Mahmoud Saikal, Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations:
“The conflict in our country is not home-grown, as some desperately and deceptively try to portray. On the contrary, it is the nexus of illicit narcotics, violent extremism, and state sponsorship of terrorism with regional dimensions and global consequences. Tragically it has moved into an undeclared war by a neighbouring state that has for many years, and still continues to coordinate, facilitate, and orchestrate violence through proxy forces and more than 20 terrorist networks.”
10. Med shot, delegates
11. Wide shot, Council
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, today (10 Mar) highlighted the challenging security environment that persists in the country, which in 2016 resulted in UNAMA recording the highest number of civilian casualties in a single year.
Addressing the Security Council’s regular debate on Afghanistan, during which the Council renewed the mandate for the UN Mission there (UNAMA), Yamamoto said “now is the time for action to deliver concrete outcomes that will improve Afghan lives today and for the future.”
The Special Representative said “a major challenge is at hand” as the government “has to pursue both an inclusive peace process and economic growth against the backdrop of an intensifying insurgency and worsening security.”
Yamamoto remarked that “developing a nation while fighting an insurgency is an uphill struggle” and stressed that “improving the security environment is essential to realizing economic growth and delivering on the ambitious plans this country’s citizens deserve.”
In her address to the Council, the chairperson of Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission, Sima Samar, noted that “last year alone, over 11,000 people were killed and injured in Afghanistan, most of them by armed opposition to the government.”
Samar said the continuation of terrorism and conflict put of “the mere existence of the country” in danger.
For his part, Afghan Ambassador, Mahmoud Saikal, told the Council “the conflict in our country is not home-grown” and said that “on the contrary, it is the nexus of illicit narcotics, violent extremism, and state sponsorship of terrorism with regional dimensions and global consequences.”
Tragically, he added, “it has moved into an undeclared war by a neighbouring state that has for many years, and still continues to coordinate, facilitate, and orchestrate violence through proxy forces and more than 20 terrorist networks.”
The Council and the UNAMA on Wednesday condemned the terrorist attack on a military hospital in Kabul for which the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL / Da'esh) claimed responsibility.
According to UNAMA, Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan Hospital treats sick and wounded members of the armed forces and their family members, and is the largest military medical facility in Afghanistan.
The release said that attackers reportedly disguised as medical doctors detonated a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device at the entrance gate to the hospital, after which several attackers armed with AK-47s, grenades and suicide vests entered the facility. The armed attackers proceeded to target patients and medical workers before Afghan security forces ended the assault. The number of civilian casualties is reportedly high.
