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U.S. envoy assures Afghanistan of help to end security threat

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10 years ago

December 22, 2015

The United States is committed to continuing to help the Afghan people confront security threat, Ambassador Michele Sison, U.S. Deputy Representative to the UN, said.

Sison made the promise during the Security Council meeting on Afghanistan on Monday in New York.

Sison added that already, President Barack Obama had announced plans to maintain the current level of 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan through most of 2016.

The U.S. holds the Presidency for the council for December.

These forces, she said, would remain engaged together with allies and partners in the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission in training, advising, and assisting Afghan security forces.

She said that the U.S. would continue to support counterterrorism operations to destroy the remnants of al-Qaeda.

The Government of Afghanistan, she said, continues to face significant challenges in delivering security, good governance, and economic opportunity that its citizens yearned for.

“Today, I wish to speak to some of these enduring challenges, and what the international community can do to help the Afghan government succeed in its efforts to overcome them.

“As we all know, the Taliban and other anti-government groups continue to pose a serious security threat.

“We all watched in horror the Taliban attacks of recent weeks, including the attack earlier today on a patrol near Bagram Air Base”, she said.

This, she said, followed the Dec. 9 raid on Kandahar airport and the Dec. 12 attack in Kabul, which targeted a guest house attached to the Spanish Embassy.

Scores of innocent Afghan civilians, she said, had been killed and wounded in these and other attacks.

This, she noted, included two Spanish police officers killed in the Dec. 12 attack, for whose deaths I extend our deepest condolences to the Permanent Representative.

Sison welcomed the renewed commitments made at the conference to support Afghan-led efforts to enter into negotiations with the Afghan Taliban.

She said the U.S. would continue to work with all countries in the region, including China and Pakistan, to create the conditions necessary for a peace and reconciliation process between the Afghan Government and the Afghan Taliban.

According to her, this includes elements like the Haqqani Network.