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STORY: GA / AFGHANISTAN
TRT: 3.17
SOURCER: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 27 NOVEMBER 2012, NEW YORK CITY
FILE – 2011, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
27 NOVEMBER 2012, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
3. Med shot, EU delegation
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Wittig, Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations:
“Increasing emphasis will be put on training, equipping and advising the Afghan National Security Forces as they are gradually taking over full security responsibility throughout the country.”
5. Cutaway, delegates
6. Wide shot, Afghan Ambassador Zahir Tanin approaching podium
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Zahir Tanin, Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations:
“Eleven years later Afghanistan is looking with hope into the future to stand on its feet and move towards normalization. Mr. President, in April 2014 Afghanistan will hold its third presidential elections to choose its new leadership and by the end of 2014 the last foreign combat forces will leave the country. With the election and the end of the military phase of international support a new chapter in Afghanistan is unfolding, one characterized by consolidated national sovereignty, self reliance and the stabilization of the situation.”
8. Cutaway, Afghan delegation
9. Wide shot, US Ambassador Rosemary di Carlo approaching podium
10. Cutaway, US delegation
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Rosemary di Carlo, Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
“The transition is on track and the international community’s long term commitment to Afghanistan is resolute. Afghanistan and international partners have charted a responsible road for the transfer of full responsibility for security back to the Afghans. Afghan national security forces continue to grow in size and capability and should reach their goal of 352 thousand strong this year. The Afghan army is fighting in over 90 percent of all operations and leading nearly half of them.”
12. Cutaway, delegates
13. Wide shot, British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant approaching the podium
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations:
“The United Kingdom looks forward to credible and inclusive elections. Delivering a peaceful transition of power to a government decided by the people of Afghanistan, they will demand nothing less and the international community should strongly support this objective. To achieve these aspirations transparency is key, so we encourage the government of Afghanistan to tackle the issues which have overshadowed previous elections, ensuring that the prospects of voter fraud and violent incidents are reduced.”
15. Cutaway, Italian delegation
16. Wide shot, Pakistani Deputy Ambassador Raza Bashir Tarar approaching podium
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Raza Bashir Tarar, Deputy Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations:
“By hosting more than three million Afghan refugees, Pakistan is easing the humanitarian burden on Afghanistan at considerable economic and social cost to itself. During the last ten years Pakistan’s average annual budget for Afghan refugees has nearly doubled. After ten years of internationally assisted state building efforts in Afghanistan, more refugees should be repatriated to the country.”
18. Cutaway, delegates
19. Wide shot, General Assembly hall
The United Nations General Assembly today (27 November) met on the situation in Afghanistan.
Afghan authorities are working with the international community so that by 2014 they can assume full responsibility for security in all of the country’s 34 provinces.
German Ambassador Peter Wittig told delegates that while preparing for the transition the emphasis would be put “on training, equipping and advising” the Afghan National Security Forces as they gradually take over full security responsibility throughout the country.
The country’s leadership is also working towards taking greater ownership of development in a country where more than one-third of the population lives below the poverty line, and presidential elections are due in 2014.
Afghan Ambassador Zahir Tanin told the meeting that eleven years after the present conflict began, Afghanistan was looking with hope into the future, “to stand on its feet and move towards normalization.”
He said that by the end of 2014 when the last foreign combat forces would have left Afghanistan a new chapter would be unfolding, characterized by “consolidated national sovereignty, self reliance and the stabilization of the situation”.
Meanwhile United States Ambassador Rosemary Di Carlo said that transition was “on track” adding that the international community’s long term commitment to Afghanistan was resolute.
She noted that the Afghan army was currently fighting in over 90 percent of all operations and leading nearly half of them.
British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said the UK looked forward to “credible and inclusive elections” in 2014. He said that in order to achieve those aspirations transparency was “key, so we encourage the government of Afghanistan to tackle the issues which have overshadowed previous elections, ensuring that the prospects of voter fraud and violent incidents are reduced”.
Pakistan’s Deputy Ambassador, Raza Bashir Tarar, while covering the humanitarian issues said that by hosting more than three million Afghan refugees, Pakistan was “easing the humanitarian burden on Afghanistan at considerable economic and social cost to itself”.
Noting that Pakistan’s average annual budget for Afghan refugees had nearly doubled during the last ten years, Tarar said that after a decade of internationally assisted state building efforts in Afghanistan, “more refugees should be repatriated to the country”.
