Cablegate: Nato Syg Statement On Karzai Inauguration

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DE RUEHNO #0531 3231155
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 191155Z NOV 09
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TO RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL IMMEDIATE 1289
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3618
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RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/USNMR SHAPE BE PRIORITY
RUEHNO/USDELMC BRUSSELS BE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY

UNCLAS USNATO 000531

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL MOPS MARR AF
SUBJECT: NATO SYG STATEMENT ON KARZAI INAUGURATION

On November 19, NATO Secretary General Rasmussen released the
following statement on the inauguration of Afghan President
Karzai:

BEGIN TEXT

19 Nov. 2009

Press Release: (2009) 177

Statement by the Secretary General on the inauguration of
President Karzai

On behalf of NATO, I congratulate President Karzai on taking
office for his second term as leader of Afghanistan. This is
an historic event: the second time in modern Afghan history
that a government has taken office peacefully. It is a
testimony to the courage of the Afghan people, and their
determination to exercise their hard-won democratic right to
choose their own leaders.

President Hamid Karzai has our best wishes for his second
five-year term. We strongly support his intention to form a
capable and inclusive administration, and to make it
accountable, one in which corruption has no place. It is
critically important that the Afghan people, and the citizens
of the countries sending troops to the international mission,
see concrete progress in this regard.

We are entering a time of transition. Afghans will
increasingly take leadership of their own affairs. NATO,
through the International Security Assistance Force, will
work with the new Government to enable the Afghan National
Security Forces to assume lead responsibility for their
country's security, district by district and province by
province, when conditions permit.

END TEXT
DAALDER

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