Tomorrow night, the President will address the nation from West Point. I will have the privilege of accompanying him there as Secretary of State after having visited before as a senator and as a First Lady to see the extraordinary young men and women who will be charged with the responsibility of protecting our nation and of fighting our wars. The President tomorrow night will explain the reasoning behind the decision that he will announce. He will demonstrate the resolve and the commitment that he feels and that we all support in taking on the continuing threat of those who not only are fighting to destabilize Afghanistan, but beyond that, Pakistan, the larger region, and continue to assault and threaten our own country, our interests, and our values.
We have seen in recent weeks that the stability of countries far away like Afghanistan and Pakistan is directly connected to our own national security. As long as countries like that struggle to control their borders, extend their sovereignty, the door is open to the bad actors who today are more empowered because of the tools of globalization, the instant communication, the weapons of such greater force and magnitude than what came before.
It’s imperative to look at the syndicate of terrorism that operates out of the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. If al-Qaida, which I view as being the head of the table of this syndicate of terrorism, succeeds in maintaining its safe haven in this region, and if the Taliban succeeds in controlling parts of these countries, then terrorists will continue to use that territory to plan future attacks on us, just as they did when they plotted their horrific attacks of September the 11th. We cannot let that happen. But preventing it requires a multipronged approach.
And although I will not go into the specifics of what the President will say tomorrow, let me just mention an area that is particularly applicable to those of you who are part of BENS, namely the civilian component of our mission. Our goals in Afghanistan include providing the government with the support that it needs to take full responsibility for its own country. That makes civilian efforts as vital as military operations and of longer duration. We have begun to elevate diplomacy and development alongside defense in our national security strategy, and we are certainly engaged in doing so in Afghanistan.
Development experts are working side by side with Afghan officials, with the private sector, and with our military personnel. When I was in Kabul last week, I was struck by the meeting that I had with the young men and women who are part of our integrated civilian military approach, sitting around the table at our Embassy and listening to a colonel talk about how critical it’s been to have a USDA agriculture expert embedded in their brigade, and how the rule of law expert, who was working on behalf of extending a system of justice so that the Taliban would not offer the only form of justice in Afghanistan, was helped by the JAG lawyers. And as I sat there listening, I realized how difficult it is to accomplish what we are pursuing, but how we have the very best that we could possibly put on the field, both in the military and civilian forces that we are sending in.
So when President Obama makes his speech tomorrow, he will, like all presidents before him, do what he can to explain to a country tired of eight years of conflict in Afghanistan, why it is imperative that we do all we can to succeed. This is the challenge that this Administration is willing to assume. But it’s not only in Afghanistan that we are attempting to confront and defeat the terrorist enemy. It is also in Pakistan where, after all, they have found safe haven and where we have a nuclear-armed country facing increasing challenges to its writ of authority.
We have made a commitment to provide more assistance to Pakistan that is going to be accountable and transparent, but which we hope sends a message to the people of Pakistan that there is a better future, and which holds the Government of Pakistan to a different standard than the one that it has met in the past, to try to provide for the energy needs, the education needs, the healthcare needs, economic development needs of that country.
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So BENS really is a cutting-edge example as to what can be done when the business community becomes involved in supporting our diplomatic and development efforts alongside our defense. As we work to create a world with more partners and fewer adversaries, we need you. We need your assistance in helping to build these global partnerships. We need your innovative ideas to create new jobs and industries to pursue the technologies, services, and opportunities that people around the world are yearning for, and which we believe can enhance and promote our security interests.
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/12/132834.htm
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