Opening Remarks by Ambassador James Cunningham At a Press Conference

August 11, 2014
Ambassador Cunningham: I thought I’d start by discussing a bit
the recent visit of Secretary Kerry and the progress that’s being
made in implementing the frameworks that were agreed on July
12th.
Secretary Kerry came back to Kabul last Thursday to meet again
with Dr. Abdullah and Dr. Ghani, their teams, with President
Karzai, and with the representative of the UN Secretary General
Jan Kubis, to review the progress that had been made in
implementing the agreements and to encourage the candidates to
continue their efforts to complete both the audit and a political
agreement between them.
I think it’s accurate to say that both Dr. Abdullah and Dr. Ghani
in conversations that we had recognized the historic
responsibility they have to ensure the establishment of a strong
and legitimate government which represents all Afghans, whoever
they voted for.
You have seen the statement that the two candidates issued at the
end of their talks, our talks with them. I think it speaks for
itself. They committed themselves to work through the many
issues before them, to work to speed up the audit, and to begin a
structured conversation between their two camps and themselves on
how to create the national unity government they have agreed to
form.
We also discussed the audit that’s going on. They have agreed to
abide by the results. That audit is being conducted under UN
supervision in accordance with the best international standards.
They also agreed that the goal, what Afghans want and what your
international partners want, is to try to inaugurate a new
president of Afghanistan by the end of August.
There is now a pretty clear path ahead, a pretty clear idea of
what needs to be done, and a lot of work and issues that still
need to be worked through.
The task for Dr. Abdullah and Dr. Ghani is to come to a durable
agreement in the coming weeks that will establish the next 2
government and its program, whichever one of them becomes
president.
The successful outcome of the audit and the creation of a unity
government as a result of the political discussion are essential
for the security and development of Afghanistan, and for the
strength of Afghanistan’s relationship with its international
partners. We encourage them to continue to develop the political
dialogue that has actually begun with the preparation of their
joint statement. To do that it will be necessary to make the
transition from political competition to cooperation and to gain
the broad support that will be necessary to ensure that the next
government of Afghanistan is ready to address the serious
problems which face the country.
It’s the goal of the candidates, and a goal that we completely
support, to have the new president represent Afghanistan at the
NATO summit in early September. This will be a very important
opportunity for the new president to reaffirm Afghanistan’s
engagement under a new government with many of its international
partners and to begin building the path forward that all of us
want to see. It’s our hope that all Afghans involved in the
political process will realize how important this is for
Afghanistan and how important it is to turn the page on the
political campaign and to begin to focus on what needs to be done
for the future of the country.