Opening statement

by the Afghan Minister of Defence Abdul Rahim Wardak
at the meeting of the North Atlantic Council
with non-NATO ISAF contributors in Defence Ministers session

Secretary General,
Ministers,
Excellencies,

It's a great pleasure to be here once again in the presence of so many dignitaries from so many great nations discussing the stability and prosperity of my country. In Seville we discussed a three-part formula for success.

First, the Afghan government and its international partners and friends must do everything possible to accelerate the development both in numbers and capability of the Afghan security forces.

Second, the Afghan government and NATO must develop a medium-long term security plan that will ensure security of the country.

Third, in order to maximize the effectiveness of our combined operation, we should further fuse our intelligence and integrate our planning and improve operational co-ordination.

We then concluded that the only sustainable way to provide security in Afghanistan is to enable Afghans themselves to defend the nation as we have done for thousands of years. We have made good progress on these points and I thank you for your effort and support.