This morning, we heard views from members of Afghan civil society, women and men, who provided us – the special envoys and the UN - with valuable insights on the rights of women and minorities in the country, girls’ education, the media, business and many other issues.
They shared their views and perspectives on the Doha process, as well as on engagement between Afghanistan and the international community generally.
Our exchange was extremely important and useful. You may recall that at Doha II, we also had extensive discussions with a broad range of voices.
This morning, we heard a diversity of views; Afghan civil society is not monolithic.
This wealth of perspectives must continue to be part of this process.
As I said at the meeting this morning and in talks with the de facto authorities, there is a need to build trust on all sides.
We have to have a dialogue that’s built on honesty.
It must also be based on principles - those of the UN Charter and the various human rights treaties that Afghanistan is a party to.
We are still at the beginning of this process. We are going to need patience, a lot of it, and we are going to need to be realistic.
This is a process based on the independent assessment the UN Security Council recognized last November.
That assessment called for a more coordinated and structured process, with clear conditions and expectations for all sides.
It also called for a principled, step-for-step approach with a clear understanding of the outcomes and commitments from all sides.
Human rights, especially the rights of women and girls, and inclusion of all members of society will continue to be an integral part of all our discussions.
Regarding what’s next, as I mentioned yesterday, during the talks with the special envoys and the de facto authorities, there was discussion of creating smaller groups on key issues that are raised in the independent assessment. We will continue that discussion on how to proceed forward.
We are still at the beginning of this process. And it will take time and patience. But our approach has one goal: helping all the people of Afghanistan.