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- 10/21/08: Remarks by Henrietta Fore, Administrator, USAID and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance at the White House Development Summit
- 10/08/08: Remarks by Henrietta Fore, USAID Administrator and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance at The President's Freedom Agenda
- 10/01/08: Remarks by Henrietta H. Fore, Administrator, USAID and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, at the Ceremony Marking the Full Operational Capacity of Africa Command (AFRICOM)
- 09/25/08: Remarks by Henrietta H. Fore, Administrator, USAID and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, at 2008 Millennium Development Goal Malaria Summit, New York - "U.S. Leadership in the Fight Against Malaria"
- 09/22/08: Remarks by Henrietta H. Fore, Administrator, USAID and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, at the White House Symposium on Advancing Global Literacy - "U.S. Commitment to Advancing Global Literacy"
 RSS Feed for Recent USAID Speeches and Testimony
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Remarks by Zalmay Khalilzad
United States Special Envoy and Ambassador to Afghanistan
Dedication Ceremony for the Phase I Completion, Kabul - Kandahar Highway
Durrani, Afghanistan
December 16, 2003
President Karzai; Ambassador Komano, USAID Administrator Natsios, members of the Afghan Cabinet, delegates from the Constitutional Loya Jirga and guests, it is an honor to be here with you today. This is a good day.
We are standing - literally - on the road to Afghanistan's future. It is a future of national unity. It is a future of prosperity. It is a future of peace.
This is a day not only to celebrate a feat of construction. It is also a day to remember those who were injured or killed while working on this project. The greatest tribute we can pay them is to complete the work we have begun.
They are the victims of those extremists and terrorists who want the new Afghanistan to fail. But they did not succeed in preventing this, the first phase of the ring road, and they will fail in their attempts to stop Afghanistan's progress. Afghanistan will succeed. Afghanistan is reemerging as a proud and respected nation. The extremists will be defeated.
President Bush personally committed himself to the success of this project and he is a man who keeps his promises. President Bush has personally committed the United States to helping Afghanistan for al long as it takes to succeed. And we will keep that promise too.
Our partnership in reconstructing Afghanistan is about more than roads and buildings. It is also about helping the Afghan people rebuild their institutions and their way of life - after decades of deconstruction, suffering, and despair.
This week in Kabul, the foundation of the future government is being laid at the Constitutional Loya Jirga. I welcome and honor those delegates who have joined us here today. They know that the hope of the Afghan people and the eyes of the world are focused on them. They can place Afghanistan firmly on the path toward a moderate and democratic government that provides security and respects the human rights of all Afghans.
President Bush has rededicated the United States to Afghan reconstruction - more than doubling our assistance from the past year.
To help the Afghan government deliver security to the people, we will accelerate the training of the Afghan National Army to 10,000 troops a year. We will train 20,000 Afghan policeman and we will also help train several thousand border and highway officers. We will do more to support the disarmament and reintegration of former combatants.
To help Afghan families educate and care for their children, we will build and rehabilitate over 1,000 schools and 400 clinics.
To help restore normalcy to the lives of all Afghans, we will work with President Karzai to extend the reach of the central government, to provide good governance at the provincial and district levels, and to curb warlordism by supporting the rehabilitation of government infrastructure, communications links, civil servant training and reconstruction projects in up to 85 high-priority districts.
The opening of the Kabul-Kandahar road is not the end of our work - it is just the beginning.
To my Japanese and Saudi Arabian friends, I say, "Together with the Government of Afghanistan, let us go on to Herat."
To my Italian friends, I say, "On to Bamiyan."
To my friends at the World Bank, I say, "On to Doshi."
To my friends at the Asian Development Bank, I say, "On to Ghor and then to Herat. And on to Mazar, Shibergan, and Maymana."
As we go forward, I want to pose a friendly challenge to those who are rebuilding the ring road: I challenge all of you to build your segments as fast as we have built the road to Kabul and Kandahar.
Up to two thirds of the people of Afghanistan live within 50 kilometers of the entire ring road. When it's complete, economic growth be unleashed.
Let us push each other to rebuild the ring road and the rest of Afghanistan as fast as possible.
The rebuilding of the roads of Afghanistan will help restore its place as the crossroads of regional trade. And it will continue to connect the people of the north with the people of the south and those of the east with those of the west.
I look forward to the day when I will be able to drive around the entire ring road, stopping in villages, having a cup of green tea in roadside cafes, shopping in kiosks, enjoying the hospitality of the Afghan people.
This civility is the hallmark of the Afghanistan I remember when I was growing up. It is also the kind of Afghanistan that together we will restore.
Mr. President, on behalf of my President and the people of America, I join you in congratulating those who contributed to making this day possible. Let us celebrate today. And tomorrow let us rededicate ourselves to the work of rebuilding this country - Afghans, Americans, and the world community all pulling together.
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