The international community and our government cannot afford to wait as these destructive trends reverse our recovery process and further endanger global security. Once again, partnership and comprehensive strategic plans are needed to break this vicious cycle. We shall mobilize all available resources to fight drugs in Afghanistan. The government of Afghanistan has adopted a National Drug Strategy aimed at drastically reducing poppy cultivation, encouraging alternative income streams, destroying drug labs, strengthening law enforcement, training specialized national police units and developing the justice sector to facilitate the proper prosecution and sentencing of traffickers. We cannot implement it without long-term international partnership.

To overcome these challenges and to make the nation-building process in Afghanistan irreversible, Afghans need and demand a strategic partnership with the United States and sustained engagement by the international community. Afghans cherish the growing partnership and warm friendship forged between the two nations.

By expanding our partnership to help Afghanistan sustain the recovery process, the United States of America and other nations are assisting the future blueprint for democracy in similar societies - the very best antidote to extremism and terrorism. Long-term success in Afghanistan is contingent upon a long-term U.S.-Afghan partnership.

 

The Honorable Said Tayeb Jawad is Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States.