Certainly makes you think about it very carefully and watching the film on women and womens right is what is this reconciliation all about. And that is about an afghanistan that works with the rule of law and that supports the rights and responsibilities of all citizens, but particularly women. On the questions of reconciliation im sure they are still high on the administrations agenda but the principles remain very much the same. The second point you asked me to talk about our the elections. Hes done a wonderful job on that. Two things that are important to me. One is what is the outcome here and it is an election that is seen by most afghans as legitimate and a leader as someone they can say here is someone we can support Going Forward into second being appointed ambassador made that the United States has no favorites and has no candidates in this and the election is a matter for the people of afghanistan. They will choose the future leaders. The final point on that is a good question andrew asked and that is what about the politics of the relationship in afghanistan . And again if you consider this from an American Perspective and i will leave afghans to speak for themselves there needs to be thinking about how to structure the future of this relationship and i would give you for thoughts. First of all as the ambassador said in the number of people said earlier today, that is the first really important thing and that is the message that comes from afghanistan about the willingness of the afghans to have a relationship with the United States and also to recognize the sacrifices of americans have made in our International Allies and partners and friends have read over thmadeover the past 12 yean afghanistan. Right now if you speak on afghanistan around the country here we would like to have somebody say thank you for what happened in afghanistan and fighting for afghans that is something they will put on their checklist to make a contribution to the future relationship. Second, i go back to the question in the region. I think for americans to continue to be interested in afghanistan is to put it in the regional context. This isnt only just about afghanistan but america has a larger interest in central asia and pakistan and the whole south asian areas of it is an important part as well. Third, i come to the point that often i think is overlooked, but the ambassador dobbins made an important point on the keynote address and that is to keep focus on the economic aspects of the future of this relationship. So before indirect investment and the connections between the economies in south asian economies and the interest in the American Companies and the important resources that are there to bring to the world market. So the economic aspects whether it is the new silk road, whether it is the fbi or promoting afghan businesses is something that i think americans will continue to be interested in this relationship and finally something i dont think that needs to be much detail but i think that he focus on counter extremism, not just counterterrorism but extremism in afghanistan and that is a very important part as well. So the region and the Economic Issues the counter extremism for the future relationship in afghanistan and the United States. Thank you, claire. I would like to start by thinking the organizerthanking l that they do on afghanistan in the region and for this timely discussion. Ive been asked to focus my remarks on governance in iraq like to look back at the last decade in which all a few lessons. Shortly after the tragedy of 9 11 a few miles from here a few days after 9 11 he convened a small group and reflected that it would likely be an invasion that the u. S. Would use military force. It was then it would collapse and he said the key question was going to be how do afghan individuals and groups agree on the rules of the game by which they would govern a society and it seems that was a great question to ask if perhaps it the right question to ask today. Now he put this question at the heart and that process as we know has many flaws but to the extent that it worked i think it is because it constructed a building consensus between afghans on this question. And there were successes and failures along the way and i would like to highlight those in the spirit that we have done too much in the last years but not enough on the real achievements the afghans themselves have made. And at the heart of this many would argue and have argued that in fact there was a settlement and the political settlement was inventeembedded in the constitu. And then the rules that fall under that constitution and that was the result of the process as many of you know bringing together the afghan citizens around the country, elected delegates to the second constitution and to the commission. While i think there is a legitimate debate about the changes in the constitution by and large it remains the documents most afghans belief is the right framework for how the country should be governed and in fact many of the amendments people see are already in the constitution. Its a matter of implementation and cant station for example the constitution itself mandates the city level that hasnt taken place yet but its in the constitution. Second feature of the last decade many reforms were completed and not only that afghanistan had a considerable basis of governance capability in place. When i arrived in the country in the early days of 2002, i was astonished to find especially because i had been reading the un and World Bank Documents because there was nothing there completely reversed with the Civil Servants in place across the country at the district level. And yes, by then the head and or almost two decades of the war. There were resource constraints and so on but the capacity to spare. Over the last decade a number of reforms completed. But i dont think the issue is one of capacity or capability. What has been a success, these have been well documented, so i wont go in depth into them but its the currency reform by the finance ministry, telecom, the Health Program for the National Solidarity program and think government village level. Government isnt something abstract. Its about how the resources have channeled for the public purpose. So how is the system built, how is the Education System built . Those are the questions of government in guessing those policy frameworks right. And i think there is a good news story here and its all credited to the afghans. Sometimes the International Organizations have helped him sometimes they have hidden away but overall the story is one of success. Afghanistan claimed the first and furthest id and any decade and its a remarkable achievement. And the Foundation Poll that was launched this week im 80 of the country believed that their government isnt controlled in their area. At the trust particularly remains extraordinarily high. When we look at what works and launching a study of what works in the coming months, i think even now we can look at some of the attributes. It was an evenhandedness in the treatment of the groups across the country, the space in the communities to be involved, the governance is not about building the state from th the top down only, just as much about creating the policy framework at the community and the private sector to be involved. Having said that, there were also many mistakes and there were some flaws and i think to some extent it was the large one of the most tragic flaws its part of the population that began to lose trust in the process. And for my perspective that happened around 2004 to 2005 there were many reasons i was debated over time and i suspect there is only one of those. But internally, certain segments of the population began to feel right or wrong but feel that they would choose unfairly so they began to look at other means to protect themselves or to realize their interest. And externally some of the neighbors that signed the declaration back shortly after the process in afghanistan pledged not to interfere in the politics in afghanistan and pledged to support afghanistans process. They began to turn to other avenues to protect their interest in it and i think we saw the unraveling between the states, between the nations and between people. So, what does that tell us looking forward . I agree with the keynote speaker and the panelists that there are enormous achievements and especially heading towards an election that is going to be respected. But looking beyond that democracy isnt just about one day of elections that they years in between. Its not just about 1 liter. Its about the team of leaders and if we look at the countries around the world that have transitioned successfully from the conflict in from the difficult regime to better governance that this has opened the lette liver by a group of l. I had the pleasure to introduce some of them around the world and it is about a great man, sometimes a great woman, but its always been about a team of people that Work Together across geographic boundaries or ethnic or religious boundaries, so one of the key questions is going to be welfare be an inclusive politics here you can there be a mandate that all of the governments can agree upon and of the team of leaders that can deliver upon us and can there be a National Discussion or National Dialogue that the citizens agree on. I know theres been talk in the need for dialogue about who think that we rightly pointed out they are also having one every day. Then i couldnt agree more with the ambassador grossman and ambassador dobbins the region is so important. If there is peace and stability it is going to be about the regional politics of the countries connecting to th comm interference consulate in afghanistan wedding be afghans have a chance at building the future that they have so desperately worked for and they need. So the question of how is the rule of the game the reality of noninterference in afghanistan to come to be. And at the heart of this is going to be the Foreign Policy of the next Afghan Administration toward its neighbors. Together with the internal consensus building process and the regional process of agreement is publicly the key step to peace and stability. And perhaps then we need an adjustment in a way that we conceptualize the way that we conceive of the Peace Process. It may not be that big of a deal and i would argue it isnt that that would lead to the peace and stability in afghanistan. It would be those many lands and careful processes building the consensus and trust between the countries and between people within the country that will deliver the endor in peace and stability of the country so desperately needs. And then agreed very much that is going to be imported into the taxpayers in the u. S. And europe are feeling backed out on the contributions that they have made to the region with an enormous amount of resources he spent on the country. And any of the news world, not all of the news world, but i think Going Forward with those resources are going to be at the lower level. So the sooner that afghanistan can generate resources, the revenue to underwrite its own stability, the better. And the shorter the bridge that will be needed from the external commitments to sustain that soa does the question of what i see in the world bank called the enabling environment that is a socially the trust of the businesses in the rule of law. And theres not a shortage of money. They are regional investors who would like to put money into the question is can they trust the rules of the game to do that and that govern in particular. Minerals are going to be a magic bullet, but the oil and Gas Resources that have been discovered recently are quite immense and it isnt inconceivable that in ten to 15 years we underwrite the cost of sustaining stability and Services Within the country. In conclusion lets move from the quick fix is in a magic bullet and understanding the peace and stability and governance would be at the peace of stability and it is the many small wins rather than the deal that would be liver on that for the afghans at the question is can a politics deliver what the afghans believe in more than 90 of the leaving the law and order that future to realize it. Thank you. David . Thank you very much, andrew. Its a great pleasure to be here and i will join you and others in thinking asap in sponsoring this. Its humbling to be up here sitting with three people used to work for coming ambassador dobbins coming ambassador grossman all have to suffer through my having to have me as a part of their team. When i first went out to afghanistan in 2002 to be the deputy chief of mission in charge of the embassy from ambassador dobbins told the afghanistan was going to be something very different than anything else ive ever done in my life. He was 100 right and it continues to be so. He also told me it was going to be different than anybody thought it was going to and i thought that was perceived as well. I also need to think ambassador grossman for mentioning the sacrifices that have been made during my time, particularly at the department of defense where he met with so Many Americans who have served enough gas and at the behest of their country some of them believed what they were doing that all of them believed in their country and they all have done a great job of which their nation should be very proud. Thats why i would like to speak on the National Security forces that but i want to start off a e more broadly earlier people talked about the fact the polling shows two thirds of the American People think that going into afghanistan was a mistake. Interestingly enough two thirds of the Afghan People think the effort to help them has been a great success. All of the frothing about the bsa and president of karzai and the back and forth are the fundamental successes and a lot of them have been laid out by others that have been speaking and i want to stress however on the military side the building of the afghan army, the police and the intelligence agencies have been a tremendous success. Making any progress is a huge challenge even if things are going well even if there is sufficient resources and Cooperation Among the regional countries. Doing such a task would be hard. He mentioned when he was in 2002 i was on the other side of that debate. Its interesting that 12 years later here we are. The progress has been worth the investment that weve made and that is a very serious statements to be made. And to set up here and say that isnt saying something important but its best to buy the dialogue into the discourse of the American People. Recently the diplomatic editor of the corporation john simpson has been covering afghanistan for over 30 years. I went back to afghanistan and did a story. What people in washington and london think is the case but in fact afghanistan is succeeding. Succeeding. Afghan species they are succeeding. The ambassador grossman mentioned i was in afghanistan two months ago in december and met scores of afghan young people under the age of 30, brilliant people who were there preparing to live the rest of their lives in their country and they were universal in giving thanks to the partners. They recognized how lucky they are and the benefits theyve got in from the sacrifices and they are prepared as the ambassador said to fight whether they are in the military or fighting for their country or whether they are in the Civil Society or building the businesses. Many of these people could be someplace else besides afghanistan. But they are still there and they are there because the sacrifices and the effort and because of what the United States and allies and partners have put into that. A lot of the topics i was asked to address was the bilateral Security Agreement, and i want to take a moment here to pay tribute to those that worked on math, and we have one of them here we have several of them here in fact i want to signal the ambassador to the United States sitting in the front row. He led the team in negotiating the bsa. Those negotiations were very collegial and very professional and they resulted in what i think and what i believe everyone whos looked at the agreement including the afghan representatives and the afghan think of an agreement that is both in the very best interest of the Afghan People in government and in the United States. I want to thank you, ambassador. Please give the team a round of applause. [applause] i will also mention of course ambassador jan and ambassador grossman and ambassador dobbins who did a great job so we have an agreement in place. What is the future with that agreement . Its going to be difficult. Afghanistan faces challenges in all of us are aware of those challenges, but i think the odds are very much in favor of success with the bsa in place. The Afghan People have spoken. The afghan president ial candidates, a number of whom i spoke to when i was there, are all in favor of starting the bsa. So i can ge think is a certaintt bsa will be signed. The issue with their president karzai signed or not is irrelevant. We need to plan effectively for him not signing it and moving forward. I truly hope that any of the costs that the ambassador dobbins mentioned might occur if there is a delay or mitigated very effectively by the great planning capacity that the military, state department and agencies have. I personally dont believe theres any neethereis any needr cost as long as we keep our eye on the long game at the topic of the panel. In returning to the topic of the afghan Security Forces, which i have visited afghanistan about 20 or 30 times and lived