 Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Omar Samad. I'm senior Central Asia fellow here at New America Foundation in former African diplomat I'm really happy to see full house on a Monday Somebody told me that Our announcement said light lunch. So please excuse us if this does not count as light lunch But I'm very happy today to have all of you here have a discussion with two Experts if I would if I could call them Professionals and Two individuals who have long-standing experience with Afghanistan Pakistan in the region Not just as practitioners and officials, but also I would say as scholars. So they will give you their view on The current state of development and aid to Afghanistan and what the future looks like and we're very happy to have Larry sampler Who just a month ago on this day was sworn in? As assistant to the administrator in the office of Afghanistan in Pakistan at us aid Larry has had a long relationship with Afghanistan. I think I met Larry the first time in 2002 at the emergency loa jerga and thereafter at the Loa jerga for the Constitution He was then part of the UN mandate and mission but since 2001 he has had dealings with Afghanistan inside government and outside part of it USAID but also Worked for a while for creative associates international. Is that correct? But also state department the Institute for defense analysis the United Nations mission in Afghanistan as we mentioned and the OSE but the OSE mission was to Bosnia in there's a govina and We are happy to have Larry here Tell us about what USAID is doing and intends to do at this critical juncture in Afghanistan and in relations between Afghanistan and the United States and Of course this whole transition very complex transition that Afghanistan is undergoing We're also very happy to have Jared Blank With us from the State Department Jared is deputy special representative for Afghanistan in Pakistan And I don't think you have an anniversary today but but you have also worked for on Afghanistan for a long time and Your work right now is on international partnership reconciliation and political transition issues very complex somewhat difficult But with hope let's say afghans as you know Have always been very optimistic under the worst of circumstances and they remain so Also Jared has worked as a senior advisor to the special rep Since 2009 previously to this he has held positions with the Open Society Institute and for the UN and has dealt with Iraq and As well as Kosovo the Palestine Authority Lebanon and Nepal He's also on the council on foreign relations as a International affairs fellow and a visiting scholar at the US Institute of Peace where I used to be for a while and An adjunct professor at GW a lot to do lots of work very busy I'm supposed but Very happy to have you here. What we will do today is Start off with Larry who we are told has some important announcements to make For some of you who may have missed the news over the last 24 hours. He's already been in the news So the announcement will pretend is a surprise and we pretend that it's very good news, which it is So Larry I'll give you the floor and then we'll have Jared say a few words Before we sit down and have our own little discussion and then open up open it up for everybody I would urge everyone please to turn off your phones if you haven't already And when we get to the Q&A part of this I would urge you to please Be recognized and identify yourself in your affiliation. Thank you so much Larry the floor is yours I thank you I appreciate the opportunity to come today and speak here at the New American Foundation and Was thrilled to see that the ambassador would be moderating I'm not sure that I'm as thrilled to be identified as an expert Especially when I look out and see so many people I've worked with over the past decade Fatah Jabrahil is here a close colleague from Afghanistan and others as well Start with an observation if you follow Afghanistan in the media You're constantly bombarded with negative stories of corruption violence bitterness and lack of hope The media and even some within the US government will tell you that 12 years of sacrifice and investment in Afghanistan are going down the drain And they'll tell you that USAID is shoveling money out the door to corrupt Afghans as schools and hospitals Crumble into dust and become money pits unsuitable for human use So my first message today is don't believe what the press tells you I have both a responsibility and a unique opportunity because of my position to see Afghanistan and to know and to understand what does go on and what does not I'm not naive I do actually understand that our track record has not been perfect and I do realize that the future for Afghanistan will not be easy But we're not working in Afghanistan because it's easy. We're working in Afghanistan because it's important to US national interest We didn't expect it to be easy when we went in and it won't be easy for the next decade of transformation But Afghanistan is still important to the United States for the same reason that it was important on the eve of September 11th Just over a decade ago and we now know the dangers of turning our back on this part of the world Negative reports on Afghanistan are easy to write and a country as poor as Afghanistan emerging from decades of violent civil war It's not hard to find a hungry child a disgruntled farmer a hospital that doesn't look the way we think it should look Or a school that hasn't yet been completed and You don't have to go to Afghanistan to find politicians making fairly scandalous remarks in public in the middle of a heated political debate So as you listen to the remarks today be skeptical that's expected, but also be skeptical of the reports and the naysayers that come out Hear their reports against the context of Afghanistan that is not prejudged to be a failure an Afghanistan where the desires and aspirations of the Afghan people matter at least as much as the Dour and pessimistic news stories and reports and Where yes things may go badly in Afghanistan, but we're not there to see Afghanistan fail And the Afghan people know firsthand the horrible consequences of failure They have as we like to say skin in the game and I'm confident that the Afghans are here to see this succeed It is an important tradition for me When I do public appearances to thank those who've served Specifically in Afghanistan perhaps in the military perhaps as a US government civilian and perhaps as an implementing partner Regardless of how you served I want to recognize the fact and the consequences and the risk that you and your families have taken in support of our national service last week's attack at the Tverna-du-Iban and the consequences of that attack and then we were heard last night of another attack of a convoy in Kabul Remind us on a regular basis of the risk and the consequences and the sacrifices that our colleagues in the field make every day in support of Afghanistan 2014 has been billed as a pivotal year for Afghanistan As someone who's been working there since 2002 I can tell you that every year is billed as a pivotal year in one way shape or form in Afghanistan And I don't expect that to change this transformational decade will be made up of a series of pivotal years for Afghanistan But let me give you my perspective on where we are now and how far we've come in Afghanistan as a way to set the stage for the way forward In my mind one of the most telling metrics for success in Afghanistan is with respect to paved roads We're going to talk this afternoon about economic viability and economic activity and growth and in an agricultural society like Afghanistan a Network of roads is essential to building economics growth. Excuse me In 2002 Afghanistan had about 50 kilometers of paved roads That's not to say they were good paved roads, but they had 50 kilometers of passable paved roads To put this in perspective if you laid a map of Afghanistan over New England in the United States That map would stretch from the Atlantic Ocean on the east to the Great Lakes on the west from Maine in the north as far south as North Carolina And in that space in that area of operations They would have one paved road and it would stretch from Washington DC to Baltimore That's the geography, and that's the amount of paved roads. They had The most recent press report that I could find on paved roads in Afghanistan today is that they have 10,000 miles of paved roads When the Taliban were overthrown in 2002 there really was no functioning governance In fact, there wasn't much of anything that functioned at the time of the Taliban more mothers infants and children Under the age of five died in Afghanistan than in almost any other country in the world proportionally speaking The number of infants and children dying have been reduced by more than half Maternal mortality has been reduced by 80 percent. It's still not good, but it's it's 80 percent better than it was in 2002 At that time less than 9% of Afghans had access to health care within an hour of their home today That number is over 60 percent and USAID has worked with the Afghans to train over 22,000 health workers So that when an Afghan shows up at a clinic for service They they get the medical services that they need Accumulative result of all this investment in health is that in Afghanistan over the past 12 years life expectancy has increased 20 years That's a phenomenal record in development circles, and it's worth remembering in a decade We've increased the life expectancy of Afghan mothers and fathers and now grandmothers and grandfathers by 20 years With respect to education under the Taliban if a child was lucky enough to grow to the age of schooling There weren't many schools to attend In 2002 there were about eight or nine hundred thousand boys in schools of various qualities and standards Now there's about nine million students in school and a third of them are girls Equally important and perhaps more important for the transformational decade University enrollment has increased from less than 8,000 to almost 77,000 and we're going to talk more about how we support education at the university level in a few moments Finally, I would be remiss in setting the stage for the way forward if I didn't call out the bold advances made by Afghan women in the past decade In 2002 most of the advocates for women and for gender issues with whom I met Were brave expatriate Afghans who had come back to their country to serve and to advocate on behalf of women Now when I go to Afghanistan I'm amazed at the number of young passionate Afghan women who have completed primary Secondary and university studies in the new Afghanistan and who are their own best advocates and not just in civil society I see them in business. I see them in government They're in every sector of Afghan society and that was just absolutely not possible in 2002 This is just a snapshot of some of the tremendous gains that have been made and that we must jealously guard as we go forward We've given access to safe drinking water in Afghanistan We've given access to electrical power to families and to communities that didn't have it and in fact we're building the capacity of Institutions in Afghanistan to be self-sustaining the Afghan power utility is well on its way to being able to collect and manage the Revenues for the electricity that they distribute to make that a self-sustaining Organization a state-owned enterprise of which Afghanistan can and should be proud a Recent poll showed that 70% of Afghans said they were feeling more economically secure than they were just five years ago Contrast that with the news stories we see in Washington 70% of Afghanistan's feel more economically secure than they did five years ago and in a recent survey by the Asia Foundation The majority of the Afghan population surveyed felt their nation was headed in the right direction So I think I can say with some confidence that the Afghan people are comfortable and want to see progress They do not want to go back So speaking directly to people like my father and other folks in North Georgia and across the country who are here on webcast It ain't as bad as it sounds in the news. There is progress. There are good things going on. Is it dangerous? Yes, it is but that hasn't stopped us before Could we have done better? Absolutely, but as I've shown the sacrifice and the investments we've made have produced amazing results Is there much still to be done? Without a question, which is why we're now going to begin to talk about the period of transition as the United States refers to it and then the transformational decade that the Afghans are quite excited to talk about So if looking back as a trajectory of hard-won achievements and goals, excuse me achievements that we need to protect What does the decade of transformation offer and what does it require of us? Among other things I think it requires honest and candid discussions about tough choices regarding the allocation of resources Tough choices about expectations both on the part of the Afghan population and the Afghan government as well as our own population and our own government To be successful the transformational decade will require money less money than in the past but still large amounts of money and We have to be able to manage that money in ways that are transparent and accountable to the American taxpayers And that's not a small challenge in a situation in a place like Afghanistan It will require strategic patience balanced by firm commitments and resolve with respect to measures of success and relentless progress But most of all I think it will require a commitment to persistent engagement on the part of the civilian community as International militaries draw down Absent this commitment. I'm afraid that we'll see Afghans beginning to hedge their bets This may be in the form of flight of capital leaving the country Entire families that leave the country or it may be in the shifting alliances as power structures in particular areas of the country change and emerge Suffice it to say Hedging strategies on the part of the Afghan population will not in any way help us shape a transformational decade that we would like to see So with an eye towards communicating our continuing engagement in Afghanistan. What does that mean for us right now? And what it means is it will continue to engage with our colleagues on the hill to help shake budgets for the out years related to Afghanistan Certainly commitments made it Chicago and Tokyo need to be honored But beyond that we need to give our Afghan colleagues some sense of what they can expect as the budgets are reduced some sense of predictability in Afghanistan we're looking forward to a successful and incredible election and now just under two months That's far the United States contributions to that election effort have been just at a hundred million dollars We make it clear with our investment that we're not supporting a particular candidate or slate of candidates But that we're supporting a democratic electoral process that will be free and fair and transparent for the Afghan population We'll continue to work with the Afghan government to help build the systems required for an effective state So what this means is we will continue to provide on-budget assistance to specific Afghan ministries Now despite inflammatory reports to the contrary our on-budget assistance does not put taxpayer dollars at risk It does not result in money going to particular individuals or power blocks in Afghanistan and it does not increase the likelihood of fraud waster abuse on The contrary both in the immediate sense and over the longer term our careful and deliberate execution of on-budget support reduces the likelihood of misappropriation in The most immediate sense us a id has in place for every direct assistance program a process of overseeing and safeguarding the money being Distributed we make sure that it only goes to the programs that have actually achieved the results They were supposed to achieve and when the money goes it goes to the people who actually achieve those results We retain control of the money throughout that process different ministries in Afghanistan have different strengths and weaknesses and they've developed at different paces and Different programs that we fund are funded in different ways, but all of them have the same assurances in place We begin with our own assessment of the risk inherent in a particular program and Then we build our mitigating measures in our safeguards accordingly But at the same time with an eye towards building Afghan systems that are able to prevent corruption fraud waste and abuse We are simultaneously building the capacities of Afghan ministries so that they understand and can execute the various complicated checks and balances I Can't tell you how disappointed I am and how demoralizing it is for our staff in the field To have so many reports and stories come out that articulate quite well our own assessments of the frailties of Afghan ministries But completely ignore the efforts of the Afghans and USAID to mitigate those frailties In the long run the work that we're doing the Afghan ministries on budget will pay results Now one element of transition and transformational decade that deserves our attention is that of economic stability going forward It is a metal level requirement for success Afghanistan simply must be able to generate coherent economic activities that will support their population and fund their government We know this will not happen overnight But as a pivot from the war years towards transformation begins This is something that will shape our programming and our efforts at USAID I'd like to talk about three programs that have recently been awarded as examples of how this transformation shapes the work that USAID does The first is an Afghan trade and revenue program This program is designed to support Afghanistan's accession to the World Trade Organization or the WTO It will increase Afghanistan's international trade and it will generate revenue for the government to replace donor assistance Accession to the WTO is a really big deal for a country like Afghanistan at their place in the development spectrum Studies have shown that for countries like Afghanistan that make the hard decisions and the regulatory changes required for WTO accession They see a four to five percent annual bump in GDP over four to five years So there is a persistent 20 percent increase in the GDP of those countries now with Afghanistan facing the economic Slowdown driven by the departure of international military forces. That's a tremendous thing to accomplish Supporting bilateral and multilateral agreements with the Central Asian Republics with Pakistan and with India will also assist Afghanistan's economy and help it to grow in a regional way And finally this program supports a value-added tax at Afghanistan and assists them with tax collection Again regionally Central Asian Republics have seen anywhere from a two to an eight percent bump and the amount of money that they're able to collect I'm sorry two to eight percent bump of their GDP that their government has been able to collect when they go to a value-added tax So the Afghan trade and revenue program will address economic activity at the macro national level The second program is the regional agricultural development program It's designed to improve food and economic security for rural Afghans Through strengthening key agricultural value chains and improving the policy and regulatory environment for agribusiness It will focus on wheat livestock and two or three high value crops in each of the regions where it will operate This program recognizes it for a nation like Afghanistan to move beyond mere subsistence agriculture and make listed crops both Sustainable and profitable for farmers. They have to focus not just on the work of the farmers themselves But on the value chains that serve the business environment in which they operate This program has been described as a from field to fork focus on all parts of agribusiness Among other things this program is expected to do it will benefit 400,000 farmers by providing access to better technology and marketing produce a 20% increase in yields for wheat and other target crops Generate 43 million dollars in new sales across specific agricultural value chains Create 10,000 new jobs and generate new laws and new regulations and policies that will improve the operating environment for agribusiness in Afghanistan So whereas the previous program focused on macro national and international things like the WTO accession This program focuses on regional and local impacts But it feeds into the national economy by increasing the quality and the quantity of agribusiness products being being delivered The last program I want to introduce today fits well into a transformational decade because it both builds on work that I've talked about And it's already been done and also focuses on the needs of the business community and government going forward The Afghan University support and workforce development program will work through 2018 and will take as its input the thousands of young Afghans who have now completed primary and secondary education and are looking for additional education and employment It will seek to produce two-year graduates who will have an associate's degree in fields that are expected to be key to the sustained growth of Afghanistan This may include public utilities such as power and water management and distribution agribusiness and agricultural extension and the business management skills required to facilitate small to medium enterprises as part of the burgeoning economic value chains Specifically the program will partner us universities the University of Massachusetts M. Hearst and Purdue University To create ten different university career and partnership centers at ten different Afghan universities These centers will represent a coordinated effort between the Ministry of Higher Education Local business and national business and the American and Afghan universities to ensure that the education these two-year degree associates will have are Both appropriate and marketable for the economy at the time There are other programs currently in procurement that I can't talk about with any specificity That also reflect this shift from a wartime focus to a post-war transitional period We want to make sure that the development going forward is sensible sustainable and developmentally sound Let me conclude my remarks by addressing the issue of oversight or as I'm often asked how on earth Will you expect to adequately monitor these programs when the international troops leave? The quick response would be it's going to be a challenge. There's no question of that But we'll build on our experience for monitoring other problems and other programs and the dozens of challenging places around the world Where there are no international troops present? This is not a new problem for us It's different in terms of size and scale and perhaps complexity But conceptually monitoring programs in Yemen or Colombia or Niger are not really that different than monitoring programs in Afghanistan But it is a challenge. We will be vigilant and we will be adaptive and prepared for it We know from experience and no single system of monitoring and oversight is foolproof But we work with the unique context of each program to design a monitoring plan that's appropriate Multidimensional that is to say it takes input from a variety of sources and it will produce adequate information to allow our US government direct hire employees to make decisions about particular programs if We can't articulate a monitoring plan for a particular program. We will not execute the program It's just that simple if we can't monitor it We won't do it But as the plans are developed we'll be able to tweak both the programs and the monitoring plan to make sure that we do have Adequate oversight of these plans I'll finish just by saying that the United States went to Afghanistan because it was important to our national interest that we secure The ungoverned spaces in that part of the world that was important then it still matters to us today USAID represents a chance to build partner capacities in Afghanistan So that they will be able to join the global economy wean themselves off of donor dependency Govern their population justly and secure their own ungoverned spaces Development almost any way that you measure it is a good and cost-effective alternative to eventually having to deploy US soldiers Now as the military draws down it's more important than ever that we communicate to the Afghans a sense of permanence the people of Afghanistan the people of Afghanistan need to know that we will be there for the decor excuse me The people of Afghanistan need to know that we will be there for the decade of transformation Thank you for your time Thank You mr. Sempler mr. Blanc Well, thank you very much. I'm in the comfortable position of having very little to add to what Larry has already said I will just make three points or really underscore three points that Larry has has already made more eloquently than I will The first is that we are in Afghanistan because it is important for our security. We went to Afghanistan because We faced a threat from Afghanistan We are still in Afghanistan because it is important to us that Afghanistan be able to govern itself and secure itself for international security and for our security The second point that I would make is that Afghanistan over the last dozen years is a story of remarkable success Larry has already talked about some of the statistics of that story a 20-year of 50% increase in life expectancy in Afghanistan and 80% decrease in maternal mortality. These are these are Remarkable experiences in any historical perspective. It's hard to it's hard to find Another country another place in the world that has seen this level of development this level of progress in 12 years and What's important to see about that progress is that it includes progress on metrics that we know to be the key indicators of Sustainability including women's education and women's literacy So we know that Afghanistan over 12 years has changed one of one of the nice things about being in a venue like this is seeing so many people who I first met in Afghanistan in 2002 2003 Larry I guess we didn't first meet there, but we we knew each other there. There are any number of faces around the audience who For all of us who have been going back and forth to Afghanistan that period It doesn't take these numbers to tell you that Afghanistan is a different place One of the things that Larry didn't talk about that I do think we need to highlight is the change in Afghanistan's ability to provide security for itself Then in 2001 Afghanistan was a threat to the world For years after 2001 it was not a threat only because of the investment of US and international military force in Afghanistan Beginning last June Afghanistan has been responsible for its own security the Afghan national security forces Have in fact been in the lead of for security around the country We sometimes talk about 2014 as a year of security transition But in fact the security transition took place in June 2013. We're living under it now So there are wrap-up elements underway and there's a continuation of the transition to the train advice and assist mission But the transition itself has already taken place and it's it's succeeded So that this transformation of Afghanistan from a country that was a threat to the world to a country that Was not a threat because of this massive continued international security investment to a country That is increasingly able to secure itself with our assistance, but but to secure itself And therefore is is is a contributor to international security and to our security That is vitally important and of course all of the development progress that Larry talked about that I just highlighted that's part of why the NSF is able to do its job and the third thing that I want to highlight is The the good news that Larry has just laid out about how USAID is approaching Afghanistan today So we've gone through a remarkably quick series of progressions as we've tried to think about how do you support Afghanistan? The the Afghanistan that we arrived to support at the end of 2001 looked so different from the Afghanistan in 2005 the Afghanistan 2010 the Afghanistan today that USAID has had to be remarkably agile in addressing the challenges and opportunities of each phase and so what Larry just described is the is is one step of a Continuous process of making sure that the assistance that we provide the assistance that we have in the pipeline addresses the real requirements in Afghanistan and so you're talking about providing assistance to first of all The priorities that Afghanistan has set We the Afghans have told us through any number of venues including the JCMB including Vaughan including Chicago including Tokyo Where they need help and what USAID is doing and what these three programs are doing is addressing the specific requirements that Afghanistan has identified the second thing I think that all three of these programs are doing is Bolstering Afghan political decision-making and Afghan reforms So this this trade and investment agenda these are things where we all know that that international support is important But it is neither sufficient and nor is in fact the most important thing the most important thing is for Afghans political system to be able to make the hard decisions To make the right reforms to improve in areas of revenue collection And if they can make those decisions then and only then do our programs really become as Relevant as they need to be and so the fact that we are we are identifying the areas where Afghan reforms are starting to get some traction And we are we are putting the programs in place to bolster those reforms as they continue I think that that's really important to take note of and then finally as Larry said the fact that USAID is responding to a changing environment in terms of a the government's capacity to implement these programs and be our capacity to directly monitor these programs by increasing the direct assistance and taking care of all of the transparency and anti-corruption measures that go that go behind that and Also being creative about how we monitor our our continuing assistance. I think this is all tremendously good news and it's obviously a lot for us to be watching USAID with over the course of the next few years, but To me looking at what we've seen from USAID We've seen in the development picture over the last couple of years and and the organization's ability to respond quickly and intelligently to an amazingly Rapidly developing situation in Afghanistan That is I think the the best vouchsafe for the kind of continuing program that we all Known is necessary Because going back to the first point I made the first point Larry made the last point Larry made Because Afghanistan is important to us and is important to our security So with those very brief remarks, I'm happy to start our conversation. Good. Thank you so much both of you I Want to start out by saying this is very good news It is very good news as in I say this as an Afghan Because I'm sure that when the news gets out to Afghanistan if it hasn't already today or tomorrow People will realize that there is Symbolism in this beyond the projects themselves Now if you don't mind Larry tell us a bit about the significance of this at this juncture And then I also would like to ask you a bit about What amounts are we talking about is this from previous commitments and appropriations is it coming from New ones or you're going to submit new ones so that this clear To both afghans and Americans as to where this is coming from and how it's being sure I'll start with a second question first in terms of the funding I thought Afghanistan politics was complicated and hard to follow until I began studying the US budget process The way that the US budget process works. We're now spending money from fiscal years 12 and 13 The way USAID programs and designs programs is often a year-long process And so the the programs that we were talking about today the three particular programs Designed for those took most of the year of 2013 and the money being spent is previous year money So it's 12 or 13 money the the budget discussion that's been much in the news lately is the Congress 2014 budget process which does show a remarkable dramatic reduction in funding, but 2014 money won't have an immediate Operational impact until sometime next year. It's it's in the future for us So what now what we're doing at the moment is working with previous year funding and then to answer your question about the symbolism of the projects We're focusing now on programs that will carry USAID and our Afghan partners through US transition and into the transformational decade There have been really clear indicators is as Jarrett suggested from the Afghan government about areas where they want and need assistance One of the areas that we feel most strongly and the World Bank would agree is Essential for this transformational decade to be successful is economic growth So all three of these programs contribute to the Afghan-led economic growth that we hope to see in the transformational decade Can you tell us briefly? To clarify all monies that have not been spent so far Will be used in the forthcoming period Or or or will some of it be lost? Yeah, I'm not aware of any funds that will be lost at this point. We have to be very careful how we spend money and how we How we allocate it the money the money can disappear if we if we're not able to spend the money in Afghanistan within a reasonable period of time The money can actually revert back to the US Treasury and that's part of the job that my staff who are actually incredibly good Focus on is making sure that we're spending the money in ways that are responsible Transparent and accountable and that we're achieving the things Administrators, Akiwal and the government of Afghanistan want us to achieve But then also that we're answerable to the US Congress that we're spending the money in a deliberate way So that Congress understands we are good stewards of taxpayer resources and this is a multi-year Appropriation this is how long will this These programs are a four-year programs in five-year programs, and they are fully funded for the four in five years. They will not be Well that they should not be directly affected by budget changes. You should not okay Jared You both touched upon Afghanistan going to transition and in one of the pillars of transition is the political transition and the other is security Security is almost complete if we can say that even though Afghan forces have taken over all Responsibilities with some very few exceptions How do you think this this new environment of transition Elections coming up This peace talks sort of being in limbo How is that going to impact? From your point of view the economy of Afghanistan because obviously people are very worried and concerned in Afghanistan and in any news of 8 being cut or reduced is Has has a huge impact on not just The economy but also politically speaking and security wise as well. How do you see that? well, I I'd say two things first of all there's no question that the most important transition for 2014 is the political transition and I think from our perspective We're quite pleased at at how things have gone so far now a lot of the hard work is still to be done But the early indications of the electoral process in the political transition have been pretty positive So one thing that that I continue to find very very striking is the fact that this will be the first Election in Afghanistan's contemporary history Where the legal framework has been entirely adopted by parliament no piece of the legal framework framework has been Adopted by presidential decree and what's important about that is not that the old legal framework was was bad In fact, it's not all that different what's important about it is that the political system has bought into the electoral process in all of its details and That's not everything but that is a hugely important first step And I think you're seeing that already in the the relatively trusting way in which the candidates and the campaigns are interacting with the independent electoral commission with the security services, so I The political transition is vitally important the election is vitally important In terms of how things have gone so far and the tests that Afghanistan has faced so far I think we all have to feel pretty good about about where we are again acknowledging that much of the hard work Still remains going into election day and of course even after election day as the as ballots are counted and as as people Custom themselves to the results in in terms of I think the question that you're asking about confidence and what the decisions and the announcements that we make here do in in terms of Afghan politics You know, I think that It's been fairly clear for several years that International assistance to Afghanistan is going to decline over the over the next few years Right where we're moving over the course of the transformation decade to a more normal assistance relationship What I think we are all trying to achieve are gradual controlled declines in that assistance so that the achievements of the last decade are Sustainable and extendable and I think that that's exactly the kind of work that that Larry is is laying out in terms of these Three new programs that this is the kind of thing that we will be able to continue to do over the next few years now A big part of this is on Afghan shoulders if we understand continues to To reform and to make the hard political decisions necessary Then you know from my my discussions with the donors over many years now I have a high degree of confidence actually that we are going to be able to also meet our commitments and And that the assist and that the change from in our relationship to a more normal development relationship will be gradual and will Enable that that sort of sustainable change that Afghanistan needs Yeah, can I just add I in for me right now political transition is even beyond the elections I've experienced two Afghan elections that the Afghans have a way of making these things work me They may be painful or they have in the past sometimes been but I'm confident that the Afghans have done the things that they can do at This point to have a successful election. It's exciting to read the news When I see it in English about the campaign period in Afghanistan I don't remember this level of political excitement and and and campaigning going on in the past But I'm much more focused on setting expectations for the transition of administrations President Karzai will no longer be the president at some point this summer And there will be a new cadre and a new cabinet of ministers and new cadre of senior appointments in various ministries And that has a that has an impact on the way that we implement aid and development programming so there's there's a lot of work to be done both to communicate to the community of Experts and community of technocrats in Kabul of what they should expect as the transition comes and to communicate to the US Congress and the US population There may be a bump in the road sometime around July or August or September Where our ability to disperse has to be paused while we sort out with the new ministries how these things will go forward But it's something that we look forward to with excitement and eagerness because this is the first Transition from one administration to another in Afghanistan in my lifetime and those are the kind of problems We want to have those kind of problems show progress Certainly, you know, I I follow the the political Process and the election debates and all of that very closely and one of the issues that comes up quite often Over the past few days since campaigning started last week is of course this challenge that you both mentioned of corruption and in you in your programs or trying to mitigate this to some extent and try to find ways to overcome the Corruption problem that exists within the system in Afghanistan now it in issue that relates to corruption, which is also a Part of a nexus that exists in Afghanistan is the drug the narcotics issue now what What can the US do because there's a lot of criticism on the fact that? Billions of dollars have been spent and not not much has changed over the last decade or so What can you say about maybe future programming in this area? I'll leave part of the hard question for Jarrett and I'll stall for a minute so you can think of a good answer no Corruption in my opinion and it's a pretty strongly held opinion on my part is countered by strong Institutional systems you select honest men and women to serve in government But then you shore that up and you guarantee their honesty by institutions that prevent and punish corruption And that's what the government of Afghanistan is building Their institutions to date have been young less than a decade old in some cases We need to help them build the institutions as they continue to select honest men and women to serve in government With appropriate institutions dishonest men and dishonest women will be caught and then the punishments set an example for others in government So I I think it's important that we continue building the institutions the way that we have and we continue to insist on Programming that is free of corruption and that will help. I think it won't happen overnight It will be a tough row, but and you're right the counter narcotics contributes to it And that's a complicated problem that maybe Jarrett you want to address just just give us your name Actually before I get to counter to the counter narcotics question I just want to say say a couple more things about about corruption one is that I think it's important to to distinguish a little bit between What we in the u.s. Government have to do in order to protect us funds from corruption and then the larger project of helping Afghanistan become a less corrupt government, right and so um We obviously take a special care of of us funds And then part of what we're also doing is a capacity building effort As larry says to make sure that afghanistan has the institutions to combat corruption across the board And I would just go a little even one step further than larry and say that of course part of the institutional question Is a is essentially a law enforcement question. How do you identify and punish corruption? Part of it is also actually how do you make sure that the legitimate institutions are there to replace corrupt institutions, right? So it It can be hard to to stem corruption if there is no legitimate Border tax collect collection service, right? So if the only way a local government on the border is going to be able to collect funds is corruptly Then they'll probably do so if there is an alternative, right? If there's a way to collect appropriate tariffs to get those tariffs to the center and then to redistribute those funds to The the provinces then you start to have an alternative to the corrupt system I think that that's again if you look at some of the things that larry announced today I think that's part of what you see not just today, but over the course of many years of us assistance You know regarding counter narcotics I don't think that there is can be any question that the narcotics problem in afghanistan is very difficult And it can only have long-term solutions So taking a look at any snapshot and saying my goodness you spent so much this year and And what exactly have you achieved? I think it's There's no year where we're going to have a very good answer to that question but again, if you look at at Creating a trade space for afghanistan in the region so that there is a possibility for legitimate economic growth If you combine that with agribusiness development so that afghanistan can recapture the role that it played as late as the mid 1980s of a critical exporter of of Dried fruits and processed agricultural products to the rest of the region That's how over time you will you will cut away at the at the narcotics business And of course you combine with that all of the law enforcement support and other things that are that are necessary But but which also cannot have Pure short-term success What has been interesting before we turn over to the audience here Is the fact that most of the candidates and the responses point to political will In the afghan context as being a prerequisite for fighting disturb these types of scourges last Point that I want to bring up is why do you think you you alluded to the media as being as not having given us A more accurate fuller picture of what is happening in afghanistan now What can be done in what? You know from the government's perspective We all know that afghanistan today is a very changed afghanistan. I mean the afghanistan I remember In december of 2001 is not the afghanistan that I go to nowadays and visit It's uh people have changed the society has changed the economy has changed minds have changed so Why is it that the american public is not grasping this? Aside from media and what can be done No, I think you know We're addressing a community of interests here. You've taken time out of your day to come and sit and and have this discussion with us I think we all have to become advocates Of a of a better picture. I wouldn't say that the media pictures are inaccurate. They take an accurate snapshot But it's a small fixed snapshot. It doesn't accurately represent the broader picture So for those of you who travel back and forth or those of you who engage in working in and on afghanistan I think we have to become advocates for what we see as the new afghanistan There is no question that it's going to be hard And there's just no quite they're going to continue to be bumps and problems But I like to talk as much as I can about the positive exchanges. I have now when I go see ministries I make it a point to speak to the young staff in each ministry They're often equal numbers of men and women. They're often as well educated as I am and in some cases I hate to say better educated than I am and they're incredibly optimistic and powerfully committed to seeing afghanistan succeed The problem is that the the people of the united states and I made a shout out to my dad and people in north georgia They don't have an immediacy. They don't have an exposure to that afghanistan So I think it's incumbent on those office who do have that exposure to share it at every chance that we get I don't think this is something that we're going to turn the tide on unfortunately. I mean, I think the reporting will continue to be Probably somewhat negative because those seem to be the stories that they generate the most clicks and the most hits on the internet Yeah, good. Would you like to add something to that? You know, the only thing I would add larry larry talks about his father I talk about my mother My my mother's skepticism whenever I talk to her is not so much about this case that afghanistan is a different place Than it was right. She she believes that it's it's hard not to believe right My mother's questions are always about but but is this sustainable And and I think actually that we have good answers to those questions And again, I think that in some ways the single best answer to that question has to do with the role that afghan women and girls are playing in society Right that if you if you look at that in comparative perspective That is how you tell that a country is going to be able to sustain the changes that this that You know have been so remarkable so historic over the last decade or a little bit longer And so I I think larry is right the the The stories are accurate, but they're partial and they're going to continue And part of what's incumbent on us is to make sure that we get out the rest of the story And also that we we answer some of the legitimate But I think in the end misleading questions about whether or not this is just because of the the The level of security and economic investment that we've made and that will we all know decline over time. Yeah Great. Thank you so much. Let's turn over to all of you And please do identify yourself. There's a gentleman in the middle. Thank you I dug brooks at the afghan american chamber of commerce While we have seen some great talk by the way, but while we've seen some some real improvements I think in the afghan security forces One area that we have not at least our companies have not seen much of an improvement In fact, the other direction is the afghan public protection force Which is what is used for the the security of a lot of the usa id's partners And for anybody who plans to invest in the future, they're going to have to use this this organization Are we seeing any potential improvements in that? Are we seeing any other opportunities for using different kinds of security for investors in the future? Who would like to I'll start yeah the Doug thanks for the question the the appf as you well know was created by presidential decree As a result of his considerable ire over what he considered excesses of private security contractors in afghanistan Now it's worth noting that there'll be a new administration in shah at some point this summer and and the new administration will decide how they want to secure Not just usa id contractors, but banks and public institution buildings in all manner of Facilities and and convoys in afghanistan You know I would draw it as an example of afghanistan's ability to stand up a state-owned enterprise that does function reasonably well dabs the the public electric utility in afghanistan is well on its way to being self-sustaining and And performing quite well so we know that they can do it Appf is a really difficult organization to manage and I don't I don't think it's going to be resolved quickly But I'm optimistic that we'll find ways to work with them As long as it's necessary Yes No, sorry here in sorry. We'll go to you later. Yeah, right after Hamid arsalon national endowment for democracy a quick comment first I do agree with you that a lot of progress has happened in afghanistan. I grew up in afghanistan and I remember If you wanted to make a phone call in our neighborhood, we already had one land phone landline phone And obviously we had to ask nicely our neighbor if he could call our relatives or our friends But today when I go to afghanistan and if I ask My nephew that what do you want who's four-year-old and says that I want an ipad? So we have come a long way But two quick questions I just came back from afghanistan last week where I spent a few weeks there and I met with many people One of the things that Not there a few talked about is the bilateral security agreement And that has really affected everything pretty much in the country from economy To many other issues in the country. So In some of my meetings with some high-level actually government officials as well They said that there was this proposition. I think that they put to the americans That the agreements to be signed By the two secretaries of state, you know the minister of foreign affairs and the secretary of state here I'm not sure how Accurate it is or not or the question is the legality of that that would secretary of state be legally authorized To sort of sign an international treaty or it has to be that the two the two presidents The second Point is on some complaints That's while the americans are one of the biggest donors in terms of supporting the the elections and the political transition in the country Because of the experience of 2009. They are disengaging themselves too much From supporting the process. So and they would be like even in Having holding enough meetings with the ic for example. So if you have any remarks on those, I would appreciate. Thank you Would you like to take the first one and you take the second sure So Regarding the bsa as a technical matter. No, it is absolutely not necessary that the two presidents sign The the agreement can be signed by cabinet officers Um, of course, we're not going to sign an agreement Unless the the government of afghanistan and namely the president of afghanistan Wanted to be signed presumably his cabinet officers would not either but as a technical matter It doesn't have to be the presidents who sign it Um As far as whether there's been a you know Proposal on the table to sign it this way or that way our position is very clear Which is that we would like to sign the bilateral security agreement Immediately and if the government of afghanistan is prepared to do so at whatever level we're we're prepared to do so as well But unfortunately at this point, um, the the government of afghanistan has not yet decided to sign the agreement We do think that there are Important costs to that and I think you've identified them. They have To do with our military planning with our allies and partners military planning But most of all they have to do with the the the confidence of the afghan people going into the political transition So we remain hopeful that uh that we can conclude the agreement very quickly Yeah, I mean with respect to the elections you've identified a challenge for us Which is how do we make sure that our support for the electoral process Is robust and that the afghans get whatever assistance they need for elections that satisfy their population Without giving the appearance that we're somehow inappropriately interfering It's a very delicate balancing act and whereas one audience will say you need to engage more aggressively and more robustly At the same time, there'll be others who will then accuse us of interfering So I have great confidence in ambassador cunningham and the mission director bill hammock Um that they are appropriately engaging. I get reports. Jared and I in fact both participate in an elections working group That's between washington and the field And and we get regular reports on on the successes and the challenges that they're facing in afghanistan You know, certainly we would be happy to hear through the embassy or through our offices here If there are particular areas where people think we can be more supportive But just I I appreciate the fact that you understand how careful we want to be not to To give even the appearance that we have somehow inappropriately interfered in what is uh An institution the afghans should be proud of as jared said is the election is being run by afghans according to afghan law and I think Come july or whenever the inauguration occurs. It's something you should be able to look back and be proud of Thank you. So i'm sorry. Yes Hey, good afternoon. I'm gila newry from voice of america afghanistan tv my question is coming back to be say signing in basically With this program and new programs that you announced with the new aid Do you need afghanistan partnership in that? In use with the troops withdrawal does it affect your work and somehow at the same time There's a complicating factor of relationship with afghan government You're saying that you're using this program through afghan ministries So these afghan ministries some of them are accused for fraud And how does it affect your work? Does it mean anything that you want to have a stable and reliable partner? To manage all this new pelage and aid to afghanistan Yeah Yeah, let me i'll try and unpack that The withdrawal of the troops and how that will affect our work I mean Certainly the presence of international troops over the past decade has been an enormous benefit to usa id Um and to all the partners on the ground in afghanistan They provided a level of Area security they provided logistical support in terms of reaching difficult and hard to reach places um But but as I said in my remarks usa id is comfortable and in fact quite experienced at working in difficult places where there are not international troops present So while we're not We're not overly We're cautiously approaching the future in afghanistan is someplace that we think we will be able to work It's a challenge and it's a problem, but it's one we've addressed in other places With respect to the ministries that we work with we absolutely need a partner in afghanistan Now our work is broad in some cases. We work specifically with civil civil society with women's organizations With particular clinics or communities But more generally and and going into the decade of transformation increasingly we will want to work with the government of afghanistan We we break our partnerships down ministry by ministry though because our programs are generally applicable to specific ministries um, you know accusations of fraud are easy to to field in a place like afghanistan um, but i'm confident that my team on the ground the mission director and his team are Adequately safeguarding taxpayer dollars against any kind of fraud that may be there So I I don't take allegations of fraud as certainties, but we are absolutely open to hearing accusations of the usa idea resources are being misspent And we take immediate response when when that happens But to date most of the ministries and most of the offices within ministries where we work We don't find that to be a problem To be honest we sometimes find lack of knowledge and lack of understanding and perhaps even inadequate education On accounting standards to be a problem. That's not fraud. That's just lack of education We can fix that we can fix incompetence. We can't fix fraud So we separate the two a lot of the ministries in afghanistan because they are so young They're adolescent ministries at 12 years old They need the education and the technical assistance we provide And as long as they're receiving that information and doing the best they can to safeguard our resources and theirs We'll continue to work with them Yeah, the question was uh, could I comment on the cigar reports that alleged fraud in various ministries? The the latest cigar report actually cites usa id data that was collected by usa id employees With the full cooperation of the various ministries to assess weaknesses in those ministries The goal of those assessments was to give us targets against which we could focus our technical assistance It identified risks financial risk within each of the different ministries and they were all different We're addressing those every ministry has a mitigation plan that focuses on how through technical assistance We'll begin to close the gaps and to address the weaknesses and then with respect to current ongoing programs usa id controls the funds controls the resources in ways that prevent them from being misspent So I I do fully support and and appreciate the work that cigar does on the ground and examining these kinds of situations to identify threats But in this case, these are threats that we identified ourselves And i'm confident that our mission is on top of addressing those threats What what percentage of Your funding goes to the artf the afghanistan Reconstruction trust fund you only get to ask me one question I can't answer in a given panel and that was it I I I don't know what percentage of i'm saying is for example, are these new allocations going to partially or fully These new the new programs are direct that they are not going through artf or a we have the afghan reconstruction trust fund and the afghan infrastructure trust fund and None of these new programs are funded through those trust funds The oversight is is on your behalf. It is on our behalf Very good Yes Walid ziaad with the word the world organization for resource development and education First of all, I want to express my appreciation I had the the great honor to be in about 15 provinces In afghanistan last year and I appreciate your your stress on Presenting a positive yet realistic image as opposed to peddling failed state scenarios, which we see all too often The question I wanted to ask was with regards to the news that you have The very good news that you have announced and I was wondering what impact this is going to have on us aid staff on the ground in afghanistan Going forward in terms of numbers as well as the longevity of appointments And then I was wondering if you could say any words About any plans to increase engagement with afghan civil society, particularly for monitoring and evaluation Yeah, um, well Jared and I both have staff in the field in afghanistan be they state department or usa id foreign service officers Um, you know the the length of tour is an issue. It's a quality of life issue to some degree These are development or diplomatic professionals who who are serving in a hardship tour afghanistan Is not an easy place for an american to be right now So we have to balance the value added of extending the tours so that we get that continuity of effort vice the The very real and significant desire of their families to see them back at home periodically And and the need for them to be able to come out of afghanistan and and adjust to a normal life In usa id we have countless professionals who are now on their second or third tour there So they each time they come back they bring with them the experience that they've had With respect to engaging civil society Most of our professionals would like nothing more than to be able to engage on a daily and regular basis with afghans That was the best part of my experience when I was there during the early years was the access that we did have Now it's my hope that um as we enter the decade of transformation We will see areas of afghanistan like harat and like mazari syrif where those kinds of engagements do occur grow Again, those are the stories that aren't told in harat. We have regular contact with civil society and with agricultural Extension services. We we get out fairly often in harat and in mazari syrif Um, but it is absolutely our intent to to make use of the growing educated afghan population In terms of monitoring and evaluation and in terms of helping us determine what the community needs are for projects Can I just add one thing to that which is uh something that One of one of my old bosses used to say which is that If I were an af if I were uh in afghan civil society organization right now I would take the tokyo mutual accountability framework and I would blow it up into a wall size Tracking document and I would be monitoring my government's Implementation of its commitments really commitments to the afghan people Um Reiterated to the international community at tokyo. So I think there's a very important role for usa and for the u.s. Government to play In working with civil society on these things Uh, even more important than that is the role that afghan civil society has in working with its own government Good point. Let's go on this side. Yes Thank you. Um, I mean nojon. I'm a student at seis my question is uh, someone said that the One of the reasons for the corruption that occurred or for the ongoing corruption was that The country didn't have the infrastructure or the capability to digest the large amounts of aid that were invested Going forward as aid is reduced. Um, could you comment on whether that could have unintended positive effect or whether it's been reduced to an amount that Would actually make the job more difficult going forward. Well, I assure you that any positive effect is intended There are no unintended positive effects um Yeah, no, I mean that's a that's a debate in the development community and it's actually one of the interesting and intellectually stimulating conversations We get to have is is there a right size of development assistance for an engagement like afghanistan What makes afghanistan an outlier is it was an engagement in a war zone. It wasn't just development This was development in a war zone still I think I think as aid normalizes over the transformational decade and as afghan institutions grow I think there will be uh, there'll be less pressure and less um Corruption will be made less attractive the opportunity will be decreased the benefits will be decreased and the The punishments I think the afghans will we will see we will see that become more common Can I just specifically though also take on this one question of do we think that assistance levels Are going solo so fast that that and I think the answer for both of us would be would be no We're working very hard to make sure that both from the us side and also More broadly with our donor partners that this is a a gradual sustainable reduction assistance So that afghans are able to sustain the gains they've made in the last decade You you mentioned something the donor the donors other donors besides the us in us being the largest donor Moving forward How is coordination going to be improved on that front? I mean what are there any new ideas new plans on Better donor coordination, which has always been sort of a criticism that you hear from Kabul and other places as well I mean I'll start quickly and just say that you know one of the One of the core sovereign roles of a government especially a government in the developing world is coordinating the assistance it receives from abroad And so I think actually one thing that we've seen over the course of the four or five years that I've been doing this from this position Is an increasing capacity from the government of afghanistan to set priorities And to hold donors to those priorities And I think that the tokyo Mutual accountability framework is really an accomplishment in that respect that it it describes what the government of afghanistan is going to do Describes the government of afghanistan's priorities and it lines up the donors behind those priorities. So To me the solution to improve donor coordination is also improve governance these things go hand in hand Yeah, the only thing I'll add is you know engaging from 2002 The early advocates of this were the minister of finance the minister of finance himself Would try and impose or try to direct donor coordination? The capacity now is is uh orders of magnitude greater than that there are young Young civil servants in the ministry of finance who will call me on the phone and say this is what we intend to do How are you going to bend your plans to support this? And it it's frustrating and it makes me gnash my teeth But it's exactly the problem that we should have the ministry of finance and the ministries of afghanistan are taking control of their Destiny and coordinating the donors in the way that the sovereign government of afghanistan would like them to be coordinated So I don't always like it, but I definitely appreciate it as a sign of progress in afghanistan In the back, uh, I see a hand right there on the very end Thank you Hello craig karp carpology advisors in un economic commission for europe All right It's a long time Um, I want to congratulate you on it on announcing this long term plan I'm sure that it will have a lot of impact in in cabo where they're waiting for signs of continued us commitment I think that's really important. I mean obviously the the accomplishments have been Very substantial and you barely get enough credit for what's been done I think a little bit perhaps a little bit too much has been made of the whole corruption issue I think of the corruption issue. I mean if you look at the films that are up for the academy award Many of them are uh deal with the fact that corruption exists still in the united states here. So I think that In the longer term, we'll see that that that's less important Um The the question that I have is uh, we've done rather substantial accomplishments in terms of helping the afghans Build infrastructure. In fact building infrastructure that didn't exist before um, a question is um Will we be continuing to do Work on infrastructure and particularly on infrastructure maintenance It's a simple answer the the the focus now is on operation and maintenance of the infrastructure that they have Um, I don't want to categorically say we will not pave another kilometer of road ever in afghanistan But but the need the critical need in afghanistan now is for Is to build the institutions that are necessary for a sustainable operation and maintenance plan Larger the ministry of public works with respect to roads, but other ministries as well And again that fits naturally into the the the continuum of development They now have infrastructure that they own We need to help them take care of it and teach them how to take care of it themselves In the back again Hi My name is antoine Antoine us. I'm a student at size and formally an advisor to the afghan ministry of agriculture Um, I was wondering if you could elaborate on the necessary reforms in government that you talked about I'm talking in particular in the civil service reform and how to dismantle the parallel structure that was created by contracted staff And my second question if I may is um your your position or the u.s. Government's position on the ongoing discussion in parliament about the afghan women's rights Let me start with the the reforms so When we I talked about the ministerial capability assessments that were done Those are very specific to each in each ministry. There are commonalities. I mean in in virtually all the ministries There's a there's a strong need for a training in accountancy basic fiduciary accountability training Um, and that's being reflected in some of the education programs that we're funding and that the other donors are funding as well So I expect that in the coming months or years We will find young men and women coming out of school Who have the accounting required to help the accounting skills required to help these ministries? That would be one fundamental common to all ministry another is jared alluded to is um Building a corporate culture and an expectation that ministries will function without corruption Um, that fits into the civil service reform discussion as well. What does an effective civil service look like? Anecdotally when I was out in afghanistan the last time meeting with these young staff in one of the ministries I asked how many of you are civil servants and your jobs will be protected by law when the administration turns over And they didn't know Um, so if if if they don't if a civil servant doesn't know that his or her job is protected by law The chances are there's not yet a culture in that ministry of what an effective civil service or effective ministry looks like So we have to build that corporate culture and that's not something that can really be accelerated It's essential and you're right. We actually we absolutely have to focus on that But that's kind of why we talked about the two tracks where we walk along with these ministries as they build that culture Helping to nudge it in directions where we think it needs to be nudged and strengthen it in areas where they begin to realize And begin to accomplish what they need to accomplish Um with respect to the the the discussions and the legislation uh with respect to uh, I believe is cpc I you know The gains that women have made in afghanistan in my opinion will not be rolled back One of the things that I redacted out of my remarks in the interest of brevity was there was a uh on our website There's a photograph made in an afghan's girl school of young afghan women standing together talking under a banner that says in english up on the wall The the most wonderful thing about education is that it can never be taken from you And in afghanistan we now have women not young women and not girls But we now have women who've got 12 years of education under their belt Some of them many of them have university training under their belt. I don't think that will be rolled back Now there may be challenges to it. I mean it um There there are challenges the cpc is a challenge Um, but it can be equated to challenges that happen in the united states as well I mean we we've had debates of recently over the recognition of gay marriage in some states that recognize it And in some states they choose not to and it's being debated in the public I don't necessarily see the challenges to the rights of women in afghanistan as Is a sign of a bad thing I see it as something that has to be fought and that has to be won But the fact that these debates are happening in public forums is a is on the whole a good thing for afghanistan That's how it's how democratic progress is made is by airing these grievances and these issues in places like the parliament and in the press So I think now that they've been aired. They won't be rolled back Follow on the women's rights issue and and just to say something that uh, I heard secretary clinton say many many times Which is that in afghanistan women's rights are a strategic issue and that's true for two reasons first of all it's true because afghanistan will be will not be a society that uh, that that threatens the world if women's rights are sustained and progress That's if you look at it in in terms of afghanistan if you look at it in terms of comparative perspective That's just flatly true The second reason that that women's rights are a strategic issue in afghanistan is because The international commitment to afghanistan is very much dependent on afghanistan sustaining its gains in women's rights and that's something that That we as donors we as partners and friends have been Crystal clear about it bond at chicago and tokyo and it's something that I think the afghan political system really understands So to the extent that afghanistan continues to need support that does I think that afghanistan understands that that support is dependent on Several things but but really maybe first among them certainly right at the very top Is sustaining the gains that women have made in the country And and the last thing I would say is just to go back to something that larry said in his initial remarks Which is that the good news here is that? As important as as women's rights are to the international community as important are women's whites are to the people in this room We are no longer the best or most effective advocates for women's rights in afghanistan The best and most effective rights advocates for women's rights in afghanistan are afghan women Including the women who have started businesses who have gotten education who have who have run for in one positions in parliament And that's the good news in terms of why I think larry's optimism is well found That is very good news and uh while you train Accountants, I urge you to make sure that the foreign ministry is not excluded I for those Uh last question we'll take this last question. I think ma'am. Did you have a question or? No behind you someone, okay Yeah, okay good last one you are My name is abdel fataji bar khil. I work with mclare corporation Sir, I work here with money afghans very educated and professional afghans That they came from afghanistan emigrated here. You're doctor engineers geologist Is there any program in the future that we can use these professionals sending them to afghanistan and work there? Yeah, there's been in the 12 years. I've been engaged in afghanistan iom ran a program at one point in time There have been several programs to try and get professionals to to relocate back to afghanistan There are issues associated with the safety of those afghans when they go back Do they go back as afghan citizens returning to their home country and and resettle in afghanistan permanently? And I think right now that's a bit of a challenge to be honest to to persuade afghans living comfortably in the united states It now is a good time for them to go back. That's the hedging strategy that I spoke about I think over time they will see opportunities as businesses begin to grow and as opportunities financial and otherwise begin to grow Afghans will choose to go home A second venue though is identifying those afghans who who have become us citizens Or who who are employable as us citizens and putting them on our payroll and sending them back to afghanistan as us government Employees and we've done that some it's a challenge to do that as well for a variety of reasons As you can imagine an afghan who goes back working in the american embassy Will be quite constrained in his or her ability to get out and to see His or her family or to to to visit with his community the community from which they came So it's not something that's been ruled out But I think as the transformational decade moves on we'll see greater opportunities than we have now Well, uh We will stop here and I want to thank both of you for a very comprehensive well thought out Presentation and your thoughts on the way ahead in afghanistan and again as I said this this news This announcement today Is I'm sure very well will be very well received In afghanistan and it's also news to the american people into the donors. So As we do as we say in afghanistan Tasha code. Thank you very much And uh, I I thank everyone for participating and please Thank with me our two guests larry sampler and jared blanc Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you