When ambassador holbrooke offered me a onceinalifetime opportunity to serve as deputies to become a special representative myself. Now that i am transitioning back to acknowledge the challenges that are made. I was incredulous recently what diplomacy is achieved in afghanistan . That demonstrated the need to highlight the Significant Developments in the region that was sustained to the diplomatic efforts it was the diplomacy that facilitated and nurtured the government it was diplomacy with our relationship on pakistan more now than any other point of the administration that opened a historic opportunity for afghanistan and pakistan to Work Together for a common interest in peace and diplomacy has supported afghan determination to fundamentally change the role in their society it was diplomacy that secure the International Political and Financial Support of Security Forces. Only through a sustained diplomacy that success will be preserved. They dont just spontaneously generated i am extremely proud to be a charter member of the innovative and Entrepreneurial Team created by the vision of secretary clinton and ambassador holbrooke commitments to the region and power of diplomacy to to the achievements to have a government prototype to respond to a complex crisis and every day is dedicated team has honor his memory with his definition of diplomacy to save lives and achieving results you know, the list of a momentous achievement of afghanistan to improve the role of women and girls and independent media, infrastructure, gdp growth. Afghanistan simply is not the country it was when the taliban ruled. Political stability of Afghan Security just wind yearago the prospects were removed with the options and included the karzai term after the afghan request he famous a broker the political compromise of the Government Lie was left behind to the the mediation to hammer out a political agreement to form a unity government becoming the first democratic transition of power in afghanistan history polishing governments grappled with the implementation and afghanistan is no different there has been progress over the past year from the consumption initiative to the Electoral Reform commission that we met with last week. But the government to achieve the reform it must operate in a more inclusive manner to include in powering ministries to assume much of the work to engage comprehensively with a full range of Civil Society and opinion leaders domestic media and in all to believe the Afghan People. Those who feel excluded paved the way for spoilers to create unnecessary instability that is why i urge my colleagues to take the last best opportunity to demonstrate the government is durable and functional to translate their rhetoric and policy vision into tangible policy implementation to benefit the daily lives of all afghans. Sole support the unity government to be sure it is on the path to success. It is a legitimate government that the International Community will continue to support afghans dont support dont deserve to anything other than strengthens the fabric of their society. To optimize success of those ongoing efforts the economic climate must whether the shock and the security challenges are severe as they kill many civilians with casualtys bill is anticipated to be a difficult season to pose a real challenge but they have held their own while making temporary gains the taliban has not been seriously challenged any urban center or capital the have proven it was ready for their responsibility transferred to it and we will continue to support as they build the skills and resources they need to match the courage and commitment one final word on the progress of afghanistan we should be proud of the role we have played including the unprecedented civilian search it will always be difficult work with reports of waste with the least institutionalized countries and to be clear anyone who is legally benefits must be held accountable. But despite the lower the of reportedly must continue to assess the overall impact of the efforts and not just focus son the easiest mechanical accounting of project Execution Team must redouble our efforts cannot fundamentally kill initiatives that our critical to achieving our interest to ensure that once again does not become a safe haven these are hard goals and an important one said there will be failures as refined his initiatives but the risk is worth taking buying pakistan diplomats have been at the front diplomacy has broad the tumultuous relationship to the stable position based on a realistic set of expectations with our Strategic Dialogue we have honed in to keep the Strategic Alignment to deliver results including nuclear concerns to prompt stability Energy Initiatives and opportunities the evolving dynamic has problems to target al qaeda el leadership and with the threat of a the ied. There is a renewed effort to bring greater security throughout the country as demonstrated by the ambitious undertaking of the operation just one year ago that has ben further accelerated in the aftermath of last december. The assistance is under great value to read balance from the previously disproportionate assistance and in particular of high visibility high impact signature project of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development contributed to improve perceptions of the u. S. To showcase the potential of that relationship which if pakistan continues progress but despite the progress yet crucial relationships they still face challenges that we can now discuss in a transparent manner we continue to have concerns of the pakistan history although we have seen concrete actions the military and civilian leadership must make good on their commitment to not differentiate between terrorist groups just as they have vigorously pursued the taliban they must take equal pay for small actions against the Haqqani Network that poses serious threats to lives and resources and that has the potential to destabilize the region i have heard many alleged that u. S. Is ambivalent about pakistan but that is not further from the truth is critical to pakistan future and i know it is also understood that both pakistan civilian and military leadership of his fellow state years since democracy was reinstated and in to a happier since then sends its own first historic transition of power and there continue to be challenges one year ago it was met by protest but today it appears that civilian and military leadership have come to preserve that centrality that it is critical to their future but diplomacy also gives new light to afghanistan and pakistan but to this receive great credit for these rapprochement with afghanistan in such a deliberate and strategic planner similarly be approach appreciate the afghan lead and unknown to reconciliation process it is such a process that we strongly support without conditions that is the surest way to end violence with lasting stability in afghanistan and the region and it is clear there can be no longterm stability without pakistans support and to take the unprecedented actions to facilitate the discussion resulting in a meeting on july 7th the first time that senior representatives openly and with permission from leadership met with the official representative Afghan Government delegation. Needless to say the news has complicated the picture but i believe it may be the important opportunity theyd think of themselves as the movement to end the civil war now have to decide if they continue to fight or to end the violence of the development with the political system of a sovereign united afghanistan concerted american diplomacy is a sustained engagement of the International Community and the key nations of the region from the beginning one important mechanism is International Contact group from over 50 countries including more than onethird from muslim majority countries and i am optimistic their regional powers have seen that supporting a stable afghanistan free of terrorism is in their interest. There is a marked and productive change of countries over the past six years. As one particular example we welcome the engagement not as competitive the complementary to our own efforts and in 2009 beijing refused even have the words on the agenda but to date we have embarked on a series of projects to convene a discussion both the first of their kind the efforts with diplomatic endeavors such as through the heart of asia process and economic initiatives like energy connectivity. The withdrawal of economic assistance really caused the need to be explaining to their region. One of the things i didnt fully realize was when the pakistanis finally decided to move into it was something we wanted to do in 2011, they did it in 2014 they pushed a lot of extremists and terrorists. Right at the point where the security transition to the Afghan Forces. At a time when the afghan were at least able to do with that problem. Why is is it now that there suddenly violence in the north, but people went north and took an area that was quite calm and turned it into a battleground. Secondly, if you talk to afghans they will tell you, that at that at the same time pakistan decided to engage in a reconciliation process, afghans believed they also double down on this season. Both as a pledge against the reconciliation and quite frankly and what they do to strengthen their hand against the taliban and negotiations. So this faces real challenges. There is an opportunity president connie reached out to pakistan in a way that caused a fair amount of criticism and afghanistan, but he said to the pakistanis he was prepared to take their interests into account, he was prepared to take steps against the Pakistani Taliban ban that are in afghanistan causing a problem. If they would take a lead and step up, produce the taliban and start a reconciliation process. If they believe that president connie is genuine in what he says, that he wants a new relationship, pakistanis also had some reasons to look at reconciliation at this time. In december of last year a terrible attack, which killed over 100 young people at a military institution, was a wakeup call of the problem the Pakistani Taliban and the ptt has posed. I think theyre beginning to understand that pakistan needs a stable afghanistan, that pakistan will have to deal with its own terrace problems. I think that has begun to have an impact on pakistani views and resulted in these talks. I i think the taliban and also may be deciding that time is not on their side but Afghan Security forces did not collect at the transition as many people as they thought. They are stressed, but they are holding. The appearance of the islamic fate is a problem for the taliban and because it could wean away some of the supporters the pressure i think the pakistanis putting on them is real. The other thing is afterthefact to your belated announcement that omar is dead has, has raised a lot of questions in in afghans and telebands of who are we fighting for over the last two years. The fact that pakistan is not upfront about the reconciliation process raise the question is taliban and aiding pakistan. That does not bode well. The taliban and had some reason to enter in this reconciliation process. Now, its certainly on certain as to where things had from here. One interpretation is the discord with omar if in fact teleband leadership and pakistanis take some skeletons out of the closet and setting the table for negotiation, lets hope that is the case. There is also a good chance some elements could come under the black flag of the islamic state. There is is a lot of uncertainty as to where this goes, despite a lot of skepticism most afghans say this reconciliation effort is worth pursuing. I very much think that it is. There is another thing we need to focus on diplomacy has done all the things that dan has described, but it is also the case that diplomacy has been backed up by security efforts by the Afghan Security forces and the United States. It is military pressure that has sparked the teleband to to the table, the taliban and themselves are using military force to enhance their negotiation. I would echo dans point, we are at a moment when there is the possibility of reconciliation and peace in afghanistan, and we should give that effort are full diplomatic support, which is putting pressure on the pakistanis to produce an agreement and we should rally the International Community to put pressure as well. This would also be a devastating time, secondly we need help to get their Economic Situation going, but it also would be a terrible time for us to withdraw or suggest we are withdrawing support for the aft dance Security Forces. One of the things we of the United States, can do to advance the cause of peace is support the effort of the afghan cover meant diplomatically. We also need to make clear that we are continuing our support for the Afghan Security forces we will continue the Training Program that is currently going on, maybe even expanding it because of the increase of the threat the Security Forces face. A threat we didnt really understand when we design a transition in 2014 and thousand 14 and it fully appreciate when a decision was made to get our troops down to a thousand. I think that decision needs to be reconsidered because as president connie would say afghanistan is now fighting terrorism from the middle east. It needs our support, and we really need to have a counterterrorism capability in afghanistan, with Afghan Forces to deal with this and keep them at bay so that we have the opportunity for negotiation with the tele band and so this terrorists groups do not threaten afghans. So there is hope out there there is an opportunity for peace that will require the afghans to do what they had talked about and it will also require us to do some things to show a commitment to this process. A commitment that that needs to last beyond 2016, if we do not do that i have no doubt that it will probably doom this opportunity for peace we have in front of us now. Afghans are courageous people and they deserve our support. Andrew. Thank you steve, earlier earlier today i was reading a news report about the tele band trying to form a unity, i actually thought there is no one better than feldman better than trying to form this unity in cabo. Many of you in the room joined us for a Public Session in mid june, just after i returned from scott smith and i returned from a trip along with others we proceeded others to impress the people in the room. There is a Security System which is not going well in terms of casualty rate, and today we heard every port on civilian casualty rates, the Economic Situation is very grim. On the critical front there is little cause of optimism to move forward. Many of those conditions still remain the same, they are still very real challenges, someone on our visit said lets flip a coin and all three times have to turn up heads to make this work. But we did come back more encouraged precisely because there is more prospects for Peace Process prospects getting on track. There is much uncertainty now over omars death, theres lots of skepticism, its likely things wont work out but i think its important not to be so skeptical about the prospect for peace that we miss the opportunity when it presents itself. I think now is a time when some of the afghans and Afghan Taliban and and the u. S. And the allies is a opportunity for us to seize. I wanted to say a little bit on the economic peace which we havent focused on much. I am concerned that must that might be one of the single most Biggest Challenges on one hand they have to get their act together and Start Performing and move from process to producing, there has been progress and there has been quite a few appointments. The cabinet is pretty full, two thirds of the governor appointments have taken place but theres still more that needs to be done on that front. On the Economic Situation, thats the largest situation beyond their control on one level we all intellectually new, but once the war and economy bubble popped it was very painful every meeting we had we heard accounts of this. Including the last day we met with our team in cabo and they went around the room asking people about their thoughts and pointed to the Economic Situation, as well as people are looking for exit strategies. I think we should be getting consideration for some type of shortterm stimulus package of some type so its not the economy that brings the economy down. We shouldnt let it be the economic crisis that brings him down, in the the short term some job creation seeking, may be idea for an urban Solidarity Program to help stimulate the economy, some land registration programs, theres ideas the government is working out which i think deserve consideration to buy some space for the government to figure it out. But it also would give time for the Peace Process to occur. At the same time they need to take their tough reform measures that can lead to change, i think the other thing i would point to his progress. There is this is a reform oriented govern