Afghanistan one year later: the General Assembly debates the country's reconstruction.

Afghanistan received considerable attention during the 2002 General Assembly debate. A year later, with its reconstruction well under way, delegates continued to show concern for its future. Jan Petersen, Foreign Minister of Norway, said because the situation was still volatile, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) faced a difficult challenge. People were still suffering from food shortages and women were not yet properly empowered, thus a sustained international presence in the country was needed to bolster the nation-building process, he said.

President Emomali Rakhmonov of Tajikistan said his country was "enthusiastic about how the international community is resolute in supporting the processes of national accord and peace-building" in its neighbouring State, and urged it to help Afghanistan develop a unified programme for actions to uproot drug manufacture and trafficking.

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan said that after decades as a "silenced nation", his country was "beginning to have a voice of its own". Boys and girls were flocking to school, and almost 40 per cent of students and teachers in primary and secondary education were women. Both men and women were engaged in public consultation about Afghanistan's new constitution, which would be submitted for approval to the Loya Jirga--the Afghan Grand Council--in December 2003, he added.

Starting from a negative baseline, Afghanistan experienced a 30-per-cent economic growth rate in 2002, said Mr. Karzai. Seeing the private sector as the true engine for growth, his country was "open for business" like never before. It connects South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East, making it a "land-bridging" not a land-locked country, he pointed out. In his Government's vision, Afghanistan, once the centre of a global threat, would be a centre for economic opportunity. He also spoke of the ongoing struggle against the production and trafficking of narcotics, saying drugs and terrorism were directly linked. The threat of terrorism continued to make inroads into peace and prosperity for his country. Terrorists posed a threat to the reconstruction of Afghanistan--a "deeply believing Muslim nation that is averse to extremism"--he said, adding that Islam, a universalist religion, had "absolutely no place for terrorism".

President Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia said that terrorists in her country claimed they were fighting in the name of Islam--a religion that taught equality, justice and kinship shared by all humanity.

However, the indiscriminate killing of innocent individuals was contrary to this. In her country, as in other Muslim nations, adherents to Islam practised moderation and strongly opposed violence.

Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan, said the war on terror must be thorough, but "must not be allowed to engender a clash of civilizations--a clash between Islam and the west". The world community must "bridge the gulf of misunderstanding between Islam and the West. We must be the catalysts of change, not the prophets of doom", he added. He proposed a strategy--called the "Enlightened Moderation"--to build harmony, promote moderation, oppose extremism and ensure justice Muslims would "eschew terrorism and confrontation", embrace the "march of human civilization" and "address the deficits in their social and economic development". The advanced countries of the West, with the help of the international community, would aid in resolving political disputes where Muslims are oppressed, reject attempts to equate terrorism and Islam, and assist the Muslim world in poverty eradication and socio-economic development, said Mr. Musharraf.

Mari Alkatiri, Prime Minister of Timor-Leste, said openness and tolerance pervade in his country, which is more than 90 per cent Catholic, with a minority of Protestants and Muslims. He is a Muslim of Arab descent and his tiny community lived in peace, integrated into society without feeling alienated or discriminated. The Timorese Catholic leadership had been exemplary in preaching respect and tolerance for all religious faiths and beliefs, and constantly searched for dialogue, collaboration and mutual respect.

Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade said the Christian minority in his country lived in peace with the 95-per-cent Muslim majority and were very much included in national life, to the point where a Christian President enjoyed the support of Muslims for over twenty years.

In the struggle against terrorism, the international community must not only confront its perpetrators, said General Assembly President Julian Hunte, but must also examine its root causes and search for a long-term solution to halting horrific actions by "desperate, misguided and disenfranchised" people. He also insisted that the fight against terrorism must also be done with respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and international law.