PRESS STATEMENT ON AFGHANISTAN DELIVERED BY PRESIDENT OF SECURITY COUNCIL

PRESS STATEMENT ON aFGHANISTAN DELIVERED BY PRESIDENT OF SECURITY COUNCIL

The following press statement on Afghanistan was delivered today by the President of the Council, Mikhail Wehbe (Syria):

      Members of the Council welcome the arrangements being made for the latest step in the Bonn process, the Emergency Loya Jirga, to start in Kabul on 10 June;

Congratulate the Loya Jirga Commission on its preparation and organization of the Emergency Loya Jirga;

Commend the role played by the Afghan Interim Administration, the 1^st Battalion of the Afghan National Guard, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and coalition forces to provide security to the successful convening of the Emergency Loya Jirga;

Call on the Afghan people and their leaders across the country to work together, within the framework of the Bonn Agreement, to build democratic institutions and to prepare in due course for national elections;

Warmly congratulate Chairman Karzai and his Ministers in the Interim Administration for successfully bringing Afghanistan to this point in the Bonn Process;

Share the concern expressed in the briefing from Under-Secretary-General Kieran Prendergast about the shortfall in funding for the Loya Jirga process, the urgent humanitarian situation, and the formation of the Afghan national army and appeal to the international community to contribute urgently to making up the shortfall.

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