Leaders must repect people verdict: Cunningham

KABUL has become more secure as a result of American intervention following the devastating 9/11 attacks, the US ambassador claimed on Thursday.

“What we have done together in Afghanistan is worth it. I firmly believe the United States and Afghanistan, along with our international partners, are more secure because of what we’ve done here,” he said.

James B. Cunningham told a gathering in Kabul on the 11^th anniversary of the assaults that the 2001 events continued to reverberate and the effects would be felt in the years to come.

Afghanistan stood at the cusp of the first democratic transfer of power in its history, he said, attributing this progress to the ultimate price paid by military and civilian personnel.

“I fervently hope that Afghanistan’s political leaders will keep faith with the millions of Afghans who defied the Taliban and put their faith in the democratic process by casting millions of votes for a democratic future,” the envoy remarked.  

It was leaders’ duty to honour the wishes of their people, as well as the memory of the many people who had sacrificed, and too often made the ultimate sacrifice, the ambassador added.

Those attacks, as well as the ones in Madrid, London, Bali, Stockholm and many other places serve as a stark reminder that terrorism was not a singular challenge, but a global scourge, he remarked.

“We come together today to remember, reflect and to mourn the nearly 3,000 men, women and children, who were murdered 13 years ago during terror attacks in New York, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania.

“While these despicable attacks were directed at the United States of America, it was in fact an attack on all peace-loving citizens of the world,” he said, adding the victims hailed from over 90 different nations.

As acting US representative to the UN on 9/11, Cunningham told his staff what had happened would change the way they engaged with the world for a long time. “We have to be in this for the long haul.”

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