Hillary Clinton at an Afghan Civil Society Event in Tokyo
Remarks at Afghan Civil Society Event
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Prince Park Tower Hotel
Tokyo, Japan
July 8, 2012
Let
me welcome this wonderful group of men and women from across
Afghanistan who are here as part of the Tokyo Conference. We are very
pleased that we have the benefit of your experience and your views, and I
look forward to our conversation. I want to thank Ambassador Marc
Grossman for helping to organize this meeting. Ambassador Grossman is
our Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and he has been
very focused on making sure that the voices of the people are heard,
not just the government. Because we know that any lasting peace, any
economic development, the opportunities that we have been discussing
here at the Tokyo Conference, are only possible if civil society is
there to advocate for them.
I also am pleased that Ambassador Ryan
Crocker could join us from Kabul. Thank you, Ambassador Crocker. Also
with us is Ambassador Melanne Verveer, our Special Ambassador for Global
Women’s Issues, and Don Steinberg, Deputy Administrator of the U.S.
Agency for International Development. And I am particularly looking
forward to hearing from our two representatives of Afghan civil society,
Samira and Hiyatula, in a few minutes.
I want to hear how you
believe we can do more to work with you to support open and accountable
governance, economic opportunities, and social equality and inclusion.
And I want particularly to hear about the challenges that you see ahead.
The United States is committed to helping the Afghan people and the
civil society groups that you represent, among others, to work toward a
secure, independent, and democratic future.
But as we transition
to Afghan-led security across your country, we want to make it clear
that being strong, sovereign, and independent does not mean being alone.
We want to continue to stand with you. The Strategic Partnership
Agreement that our President signed in Kabul in early May that is now
fully in effect provides a long-term framework for our relationship,
sending a clear signal that America’s support will endure. And it
outlines the basis for our extensive cooperation over the next decade in
fighting violent extremism, strengthening democratic institutions, and
protecting human rights.
We have also been very clear – and we
just finished a meeting between the Afghan Government and the Pakistani
Government – about Afghan-led reconciliation, that it can only happen
with groups and individuals who sever ties to al-Qaida, renounce
violence, and pledge to abide by the Afghan constitution, including its
protections for women and minorities. Reconciliation cannot, must not,
come at the expense of the gains you have made in the last 10 years. So
we want to be sure your voices are heard. We want to stand up for your
rights and we want to condemn extremism and any kind of abuses that
affect people and particularly women in Afghanistan.
We also want
to support a free press and journalists who hold governments
accountable, report the facts about what is happening, and exchange
ideas so that better decisions can be made. We also wish to support
constitutional and transparent parliamentary and presidential elections.
And for us, when we talk about Afghan-led, we don’t mean just the
government. We mean the Afghan people.
So with that, let me ask
you, please, to translate before we come and hear from our
representatives, and then turn it over to all of you.
