Statement by the EU Presidency on UN-Led Afghan Talks in Petersberg

 

 

December 5, 2001

The Presidency of the European Union welcomes the agreement on Afghanistan that
was concluded yesterday in Bonn. The Presidency is very pleased that the Afghan
negotiators have agreed in line with UN Security Council resolution 1378 on a series of broad based transitional institutions composed of the different ethnic and regional groups that make up the population of Afghanistan. By this agreement, the Afghan negotiators have shown their determination to offer Afghanistan a new and better future. 

The European Union will do its utmost to support the new Afghan government and to
help it accomplish the rebuilding of the country. 

The European Union calls on all groups to respect the Bonn agreement. It also calls on the new Afghan Authority to pay attention to the rights of Afghan women, who have been terribly oppressed by the Taliban regime and to make sure that they will be present at senior levels within the new administration. 

The European Union wishes to praise the efforts undertaken by the United Nations and more particularly the Secretary General as well as his Special Representative for Afghanistan, Ambassador Brahimi, and his assistants, which led to the successful outcome of the Bonn talks. 

The European Union finally calls on the international community to give the new
Afghan government all necessary support, in order to make sure that democracy and the respect for human rights can be firmly established in Afghanistan. 

In line with its previously expressed commitment the European Union will engage
its best efforts in order to contribute to the rehabilitation and the reconstruction of
Afghanistan. This EU effort will be made in close cooperation with the Afghan people
themselves as well as donor countries and international organisations, and the UN in
particular.