Commander, ISAF Joint Command speech

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN

11.06.2010

Courtesy Story

ISAF Joint Command

KABUL, Afghanistan – The following prepared opening remarks were given by Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, International Security Assistance Force Joint Command commander, during the Regional Development Conference held in Mazar-e Sharif Saturday, Nov. 6.

Good afternoon. It’s my pleasure to speak to you today as a member of the combined team that gets after the important business of assisting the Afghan people in finding a better future. I am privileged to be on the same team with leaders like Mr. Barna Karimi. Sir – I appreciate your words – as always. Governor atta, Mr. Watkins – it’s an honor to share the podium with you also.

Good afternoon to the honorable governors, ministers, heads of provincial councils, representatives from key development ministries and other Afghan agencies.

Representatives from the coalition and provincial reconstruction teams, and development and aid agency representatives from around the world, it’s great to be here with you focusing on the issues that make our security efforts meaningful and lasting.

Minister of Defense Wardak observed last year that “victory is within our grasp, provided we recommit ourselves . . . And provided we fulfill the requirements needed to make success inevitable.

Those words are more true than when he said them.

This conference and the coordinated effort across the combined team to bring it together are excellent examples of the kind of commitment Minister Wardak describes.

A year ago – think about it – a year ago this conference simply would not have happened.

Here’s the question – how have we changed over the course of the last year that makes this now possible? What is different?

More than anything else, I think the answer is better unity of effort. Most important in that is the partnership that gets better and better between the international community and our hosts – members of the Afghan government. It is also improving across all agencies within the international community – and when we speak with one voice to the Afghan government, we get things done so much more effectively.

Another aspect of unity of effort is ensuring that every endeavor in governance and development is closely coordinated with security efforts: from district to provincial to central government level. We spent eight years working these three lines of operations independently. We now know the magic that synchronizing governance and development activities with security progress brings.

But most importantly, when we talk of improved unity of effort, we are talking about the trinity of the afghan people, the Afghan government, and the Afghan national security forces.

That unity of effort is at the center of the progress we are seeing. This is most true at the local level. When these things are all in balance, we will together find local solutions to local problems.

We should always endeavor to preserve and strengthen that unity of effort and cooperation among the people, a good government, and security forces.

We in the coalition have to support this trinity, this unity of effort, without creating parallel structures. We have to close the gap between what we do and what the government and what the people want us to do, moving away from foreign delivery of services to government delivery of services.

There is really one answer to this – partnership. Partnership to work together to respond to the needs of the Afghan people. Close partnering will remove the phrase “parallel structures” from our collective vocabulary. One reason why the afghan security forces continue to grow in capability is due to effective, close embedded partnering. We have all kinds of statistics to prove it.

Tomorrow I will talk more about the activities of our security forces. We understand that progress in governance and development is dependent on progress in security. This makes space for good governance and development to move forward. I will talk you through Operation Omid, focusing on our objectives and operations in the north and the west.

But for today, I just want to remind you that Operation Omid – the security effort – is about giving Afghanistan the opportunity for more responsive governance. We must succeed in this. We must provide the people an alternative to the intimidation of the enemy. They want an alternative and we have to partner – all of us – in all the ways we just talked about – to provide it.

In September, an Afghan National Army officer said, “The insurgents tried hard to stop the elections, but they failed. . . . Today we showed the world that we are powerful, we are in control, and we can defeat the Taliban.”

That spirit of determination and unyielding commitment has to infect every afghan leader, every coalition leader – the entire combined team.

Consider how far we have come, and the progress has just begun.

The future is hopeful. If we all work together, it is very hopeful. Thank you.

• Date Taken: 11.06.2010
• Date Posted: 11.09.2010 09:29
• Story ID: 59738
• Location: KABUL, AF