Good morning on the eve of Nau Rouz, our first in Afghanistan, I thought that we would have a meeting to exchange information with you. The first thing I would like to say is to convey our congratulations and best wishes to the people of Afghanistan and to Chairman Karzai and his colleagues, and all the authorities in Afghanistan. We hope that this year will bring a new beginning for Afghanistan.

As you know I have just been to Herat and Kandahar. I came back yesterday. Plenty is happening outside of Kabul. It is extremely encouraging to see the city of Herat, a very ancient and historic city, alive, teeming with activity. It is good to see Kandahar where there is no curfew although there are many, many problems in both cities and everywhere else in Afghanistan. I think that you are all aware of the great deal of activity that is taking place in Kabul to receive the international community, and in particular the very active preparations of the projects for development: the World Bank, UNDP, Asia Development Bank are working very actively to prepare the setting-up of the new Trust Fund and they are also working hard to prepare projects.

As you know on the 10th of April the first meeting of the Implementation Group which came out of Tokyo is going to take place n Kabul and we expect to have some 100 or more distinguished representatives from international institutions and elements from the financial sector.

As you know this is also very, very important for everybody, the Independent Commission for the Loya Jirga is working very diligently and I think in a few days time they will finish the important first stage of their work and will make public the criteria, rules and regulations for the holding of the Loya Jirga.

Probably just as important, significantly important this month is the opening of the school year the day after tomorrow. In Herat, they were I think, planning for something like 150,000 kids to start the year, but they already have over 200,000. Conditions will be much, much less than ideal in these schools but I think it is a huge progress for this country that the school year is going to start in a totally different atmosphere than previously.

Now of course there are very, very many sources of concern, the drought continues to be a major one. Security remains also a concern for local communities, much more worrying has been the view which you media have been covering very extensively about the ill-treatment of some communities in the north. Everybody has expressed their concern, not least Chairman Hamid Karzai, and we are hopeful that measures are being taken to put an end to these practices, and also to ensure that those who are responsible for these abuses are not going to go unpunished.

These are a few remarks and I am sure you must have one or two questions that I will try and answer to the best of my ability.

Question on the killing of Minister Abdul Rahman and the growing number of militia people in Kabul that appears to be contrary to the Bonn Agreement.

SRSG: On your second question, that is not what I hear from ISAF (International Security Assistance Force). You say the ‘growing numbers’, they think they are diminishing numbers. That is what ISAF tells us. The impression we have is that there is a growing sense of security, not a diminishing sense of security. I’m sure there are many problems that I am not aware of. I will discuss this with my friends in ISAF and in the Ministry of Interior, and I will let you know what they say.

On your first question, yes we are concerned. It was an extremely disturbing event, a destabilizing event, for the Administration that has just started and that is in so difficult conditions. Chairman Karzai told me, a week, 10 days ago, and it is now in the hands of the Judiciary Commission of Enquiry. I am afraid that is all I know for the moment and I very much hope that the people who are responsible for this will not go unpunished.

Question on the presence of military units in urban areas and how this is a contradiction to the Bonn Agreement.

SRSG: Well it is not an issue in the sense that I think they think probably this is the best that can be done. It is accepted, it is agreed that the commanders running around with a lot of armed people is not accepted. The Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Interior accept that and they say that they are doing everything to put an end to that completely. I think that what ISAF is saying that if there are soldiers, they have to stay in barracks. If you get them out of Kabul where are you going to put them? Just leaving them roaming around outside the cities? I think that what is being attempted and I hear that a lot of progress has been made is to make sure that the soldiers live in barracks and not in houses, which they have taken perhaps not in a very lawful manner. So this is what is being done, and I think everybody agrees that this is the best that can be done at this stage.

Question: So the Bonn Accord is no longer active?

SRSG: That is not a fair question. The Bonn Accord is very, very much still in action. If there is one element that cannot be implemented in an ideal manner that doesn’t mean in the least that anybody is putting in doubt that the Bonn Agreement is the basis of everything that is taking place here.

Question on the SRSG’s view following his recent visit to Kandahar, and on the meeting of the Implementation Group.

SRSG: On Kandahar, I stayed only a few hours yesterday and met quite a few people, chief among them Governor Gul Agha Sherzai. I do not know what is behind your question, I have not seen enough to tell you more, but the fact that they have lifted the curfew, that the city is terribly run down, and needs a lot of work. The roads, the state of repair is not what it should be, but there is still, like everywhere else, a lot of activity that is starting. The people are very very interested in the Loya Jirga, unfortunately we didn’t have time to speak to them at length. Two members of the Loya Jirga [Commission] who were with me, had just established contact with the elders there and they promised to go back because they had to return to Kabul to finish the work of the [Loya Jirga] criteria.

They were complaining also that salaries had not been paid to civil servants. This is due to the fact that the lists of the civil servants have not been established in the manner that is required by the Ministry of Finance. I hope this will be done in a few days time and salaries can be paid to the civil servants.

On your second question, the Implementation Group is composed of the countries which called for a [inaudible] Tokyo, plus the international institution and a number of countries such as Norway in their capacity as the Chair of the ASG, Afghanistan Support Group. The decision in Tokyo was that this group would meet every three months under the chair of the Interim Administration. So this is the first meeting. It was supposed to take place in March, because of a number of difficulties here it has been postponed to the 10 April and it is being prepared by the Ministry of Finance.

As you know the request has been made by the Afghan Authorities and also by the Agencies of the United Nations for something like 1 billion plus dollars for the year 2002. I think that now we have made a decision how much of that money is going to be made available and for what in particular, there are some studies about reconstruction, health, education, agriculture. I think there is also some project on housing, there is also tremendous expectation of the return of refugees. We are talking about maybe one billion people returning this year who will need help to come back to their homes and to be resettled there.

There is of course the work of WFP which must continue because there are many communities that are in need of just their daily bread.

Question on the return of King Zahir Shah, specifically when he will arrive.

SRSG: I have not seen anybody on this subject or discussed this subject with anybody in the last four or five days because I was away, but to the best of my knowledge the King is coming back on 26 March. That was the last I heard a few days ago. The United Nations is not directly involved in this project.

Question: Where will he arrive?

SRSG: As far as I know it is still Kabul. Please note that we are not involved in the preparation of this trip.

Question: [inaudible]

SRSG: I would rather not comment except to remind that the Bonn Agreement which is still in operation says that the King will open the Loya Jirga when it takes place.

Question on the number of children attending school and parents resistance to send them to school.

SRSG: I do not know how many children there are of school age but I know that we hope that up and down the country there will be something like 1.5 million kids going to school. Probably expected, but this first year, there will be 100 percent return of all the kids to school, and I am not sure whether it is really the parents who are refusing to send their children to school, as much as the means of actually [inaudible] are not there. For example, if you take refugees as an indication of the attitude of parents, when refugees are considering coming back they have two questions. [One] is there security, [and two] are there schools there? So I think that this is an indication that families want to send their children, including girls. And under the Taliban, I think you and I know a lot of people who were paying huge sums of money to keep their girls in Pakistan [inaudible] so I do think that people want to send their kids [to school]. As far as the curriculum is concerned, I’m sure that the Minister of Education can tell you a lot more than I can. They have been working on that very diligently, and in a very short time they are planning to have a national curriculum for all the schools in the country. [Inaudible]

Question on alleged discussions between ISAF, the Afghan Interim Administration and the SRSG on security for the Loya Jirga.

SRSG: Actually it is not true. As you know the Secretary-General has been very explicitly supporting the request of the Afghan eople for the expansion of ISAF outside of Kabul. We think that everybody is asking for this in Afghanistan. There is a call or appeal -- relayed regularly by Chairman Karzai in particular and the Secretary-General and all of us around him support this request. The Security Council has been discussing informally this idea, they have not formally made any decision.

On the question of the security of the Loya Jirga is certainly a concern for the Members of the Commission and they are discussing and we are planning to think through with the Administration how that can be assured. From what I have seen in Kandahar and in Herat is reassuring, is the tremendous support of the people for this process is such that I think we need to support and provide very, very strong [inaudible].

Question on the SRSG’s view of the American bombing campaign. SRSG: I think that the campaign, as it is called, is still continuing. It is conducted totally separate from what we are trying to do. What the United Nations is doing on the ground here, but of course on our side we are following very closely [inaudible]. But I think that we share everybody’s anguish and concern about the negative effects and in particular, that horrible word, collateral damage that has happened from time to time that is certainly cause for concern for everyone -- not least, for the Americans themselves.

Question on the multinational forces in Afghanistan and the length of stay and how this will effect the Afghan people.

SRSG: I think that ISAF if that is what you are talking about, is here under a Resolution of the Security Council. That Resolution has authorised the establishment of ISAF. It is generally considered, a foregone conclusion, that it is going to be extended. It is also, I think, a fact that most Afghans, the people in Kabul in particular, are extremely happy with the presence of ISAF and would like it to continue. I think it is also [inaudible] the wish of most Afghans that ISAF extends outside. I think that the people of Afghanistan, the leaders and Afghans, recognise that ISAF is here to help the people of Afghanistan and in fact the contributing countries of forces to ISAF are much more in a hurry to go than the Afghan people want them to.

Question on the possibility of reconstruction and stability in Afghanistan while coalition war continues.

SRSG: I am not aware of what the plans of the coalition are. That is not part of my work here. I very much hope that reconstruction can take place, preparations for reconstruction are under way and I hope it will gather momentum as we go along. As I told you the work of the coalition is not part of our operations so I hope it will not stand in the way of reconstruction. Thank you.