24 January 2010 - Afghanistan’s southeastern region recently held its annual coordination and cooperation meeting to improve the working relations amongst the region’s main national and international actors.

The improved coordination shall redound to the “improvement of people’s lives in different sectors such as in development, security and business,” said meeting participants.

Initiated by the regional Department of External Relations, the meeting was held in the Municipality Hall of Gardez city in the province of Paktya.

The meeting was attended by Paktya Governor Juma Khan Hamdard, the deputy head of the Provincial Council, the head of the Police Department, heads of the different directorates of government, tribal elders, and representatives from UNAMA, Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and national and international NGOs.

Maualvi Habibullah Mangal, head of the Department of Peace and Reconciliation, opened the meeting by reciting a few verses from the Holy Quran; while Governor Hamdard opened the debate on security, saying ”We will try our best to bring peace and expedite the process of peace and reconciliation.”

“Confidence between the people and security forces should be built because without confidence, peace cannot be established, and anti-government elements can disrupt security at any time,” he added.

The south east of Afghanistan is in an extremely critical security situation. Incidents increased in 2009 and, in early January, a complex suicide attack in a crowded bazaar in central Gardez killed and wounded several civilians.

Governor Hamdard, linking corruption to insecurity, called for quick action: “We have strongly determined to abolish all sorts of administrative corruptions. Corruption is also one of the most significant factors which has increased the gap between the people and the government.”

USAID representative Freeman Davies said PRTs are currently working on three sectors, namely, agriculture, health and education, and added that USAID wants to coordinate its activities with the other actors and agencies “because coordination is the key element for development activities.”

Christophe Sivillon of UNAMA’s Political Affairs Unit in Gardez said, “Even if our capacity of movement has been severely hampered over the last couple of years, we still have a presence here and we will work to the best of our abilities to support the Afghan people.”

“We will continue our public outreach programs, we will improve our coordination efforts, and we will support the process of peace and reconciliation,” added Mr Sivillon as he pledged to “continue to monitor the impacts of this conflict on civilians, including investigating incidents resulting in civilian casualties involving all parties, both pro and anti-government forces.”

UNAMA’s regional office in Gardez is increasing its presence and promoting better collaboration all across the region with provincial offices in Paktya and Khost, and with a new provincial office in Ghazni to be opened this summer.

By Dilawar Khan Dilawar, UNAMA