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Hedayat Amin-Arsala Speech
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Back to News Archive 29 October 2004
Delivered on August 8, 2004 at the closing ceremony of the NPCA National
Conference in Chicago.
Hedayat Amin-Arsala is currently the vice-president of the Transitional Government of
Afghanistan and a leading candidate for national office in Afghanistan’s September
elections. An economist by training, he has strong ties to Peace Corps. Early in his
career he was a Farsi language trainer for the Peace Corps, and his wife is a returned
Peace Corps volunteer. To read more about Hedayat Amin-Arsala, click here |
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“Madam
chairman, I don’t know what is the politically correct way of saying this, chairman
or chairperson or chair. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning to you all.
It is good to be in this great city of Chicago and in this wonderful state of Illinois
after some 30-odd years. I see a lot of change, of course, in Chicago but I only regret
that I have not had the opportunity to look around and see everything that is possible.
But in any case that will give me an opportunity to come again some other time and enjoy
the city.
I am, of course, particularly honored and privileged to have been invited to come here and
celebrate the 25th anniversary of the National Peace Corps Association and, of course, the
Chicago area association.
As some of you may know, I have been involved with the Peace Corps training programs. Four
training programs. The first three were in Vermont and the last one was at the University
of Texas. In these programs, of course, I had an opportunity to make friends with many
volunteers and with many of their families. It is, indeed, a pleasure to know the United
States from the prism of the Peace Corps volunteers. That was my first exposure to this
country and that exposure was very positive. One of the fortunate things of course, is
that in the fourth training program I had the good fortune to meet my wife, Betsy. I
suppose I can say that there is not any closer association than that. During that period,I
wasn’t impressed terribly by the power of the United States but I was impressed by
the beneficence of its people, by their kindness, by their sharing, by their
understanding. And that I feel to a large extent my perception of the United States was
developed because of the volunteers, because they were special people, that perception
being somewhat skewed, but I certainly believed in it and in spite of the fact that I may
have differences with some of their policies, I still believe that the people of the
United States are kind, they are benevolent, they wish well for the world, and they are
not really aggressors.
Well, the time I was involved in the Peace Corps, those were sort of the times that,
although the Cold War raged quite fully, those times, in my judgment, were full of
idealism, full of hope, full of understanding, full or reaching out, full of cooperation
and sharing. The world–from my perspective at the time when I was looking at
volunteers and America and the world–was much safer and much more hopeful. The
reconstruction of Europe had taken place, the Korean War had ended, most countries were
either liberated or in the process of being liberated. In the United States, I remember,
all the roads were open, people didn’t lock their doors in places where I was going.
Cars were left unlocked. That shows the quality and the type of life. In the rest of the
world you could travel by bus, let’s say, from London to Bombay via Europe, Turkey,
Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. People traveled on bicycles and they traveled
around the world. People hitchhiked. That was the kind of world in which the Peace Corps
was created, where the vision came about.
Now, times have unfortunately changed. The assassination of President Kennedy, the
intensification of the Vietnam War, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the assassinations of Dr.
Martin Luther King and of Robert Kennedy, the riots in the cities of the United States,
the failure and disappointment of some of the liberated countries throughout the world,
the rise of dictatorships, coups and countercoups, the Iran-Iraq war, the occupation of
Afghanistan by the Soviets, ultimately the rise of extremism and terrorism and now, of
course, Iraq. All of that has changed the world and with that they have responded with
cynicism and fear and distress and despondency. Today, basically, and regrettably, that is
what we have.
Is the Peace Corps vision still relevant? The answer, in my judgment, is yes. It is needed
now more than ever [Applause] to meet the technology requirements of the countries that
want to develop themselves. For that they need teachers, they need computer trainers and
operators, they need people in information technology, they need everything. They need all
that the United States gives through the Peace Corps. But more importantly, it is to
prevent a separation of the people of this world from each other.
Today, some in academia even talk about conflicts of civilizations. You and I know that
there is only one integrated world. There are not two civilizations. There is only one
human civilization. Wherever we live we have the same feelings, we have the same
sympathies. We love our children, we love our wives, we love our parents. We react to
things in the same way. So, we have no choice but to depend on each other if we ultimately
want to survive in this world.
Peace Corps volunteers are needed to own and to applaud this view of one world and to
adopt this view. While we must stand united against terrorism and the threat of terrorism,
we must ultimately make sure that we remove the cause of terrorism and remove the
injustice that may lead to terrorism.
Yes, Peace Corps is needed. But having said that let me make three or four quick
suggestions:
Keep the character and quality of the Peace Corps. You should not try to involve it in
political considerations. You should not involve Peace Corps to advance the qeostrategic
interests of a particular country.
You should not be involved in the intelligence services. Younger people should be
attracted to join the Peace Corps, to contribute whatever they can contribute. But what is
more important is to learn from other societies.
Thirdly, I think you should encourage more experienced people, the retired people, people
in their mid-careers who might be interested in a break or change.
And another or a fourth point I want to make, which may be a little off, but in any case I
will make it, is to connect with the volunteers of other countries. There are many people
in the rest of the world, in the developed world and in some countries of the developing
world, that are interested in providing service in other countries but, unfortunately,
they don’t have the institutions or support systems to carry out their desires. So,
I’m just wondering whether the Peace Corps will someday be able to make it possible
for those from other countries to work as Peace Corps volunteers can do. Whether it is to
be in the context of the Peace Corps, which is unfortunately restricted only to U.S.
citizens, or it creates something in addition to provide the opportunity for the citizens
of other countries as well.
Well, that’s for the Peace Corps in general. Let me say a few words about
Afghanistan. We have gone as you know through more than 20 years of war. Our economy and
social and security and administrative institutions have been totally destroyed. We have
started for the last two-and-a-half years on rebuilding the country and reviving our
institutions and reconstructing the country but we have a long long way to go and we need,
of course, a lot of support. We still have problems. There are problems of drugs, there
are problems of warlordism, there are problems of terrorism. All these problems must be
handled simultaneously if we are to raise and attain civility in our country.
The important aspect of our overcoming these problems would, of course, be a very
successful reconstruction and economically viable program. But unfortunately, although we
have been receiving pledges and assistance and commitments in conferences in Tokyo and in
Berlin and financially things may be all right, in terms of capacity to implement programs
we have great needs and that’s where we need the support, too. I have authorized a
study of technological assistance positions and I found out that about 25 percent of the
aid that was going for technological assistance purposes and authorities range from about
as low as $500 a day to over $3,000 a day. That is absolutely out of this world and
certainly we cannot afford that so that’s why I say selfishly from our point of view
that we need the Peace Corps.
So, therefore, we welcome everyone one of you to come and do the work and help us to
learn. We welcome retired people to come and teach us. And welcome those in mid-careers to
come and help us to implement our development and reconstruction programs and to ensure
that in the longer term a democracy is developed and we are on our way to reconstruction.
I am sure there are some people who might ask whether it is safe to come to Afghanistan. I
cannot say there are no risks. Of course there are risks. There are risks anywhere. You
can come to Kabul and be quite safe and from there you can expand and go to other places
whenever you feel confident if you want to do that. So, it has been indeed a pleasure to
come here and to participate in this conference. I wish you happiness and I wish you
health and I want you to be vocal for peace and for understanding for the Peace Corps
vision as espoused by the late President Kennedy.
Good luck to you all and Godspeed.”
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Hedayat Amin-Arsala
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Excellency Hedayat Amin-Arsala, 62, grew up in Kabul and attended high school there. He
came to the United States for college and completed studies for a doctorate in economics
at George Washington University. Between 1969 and 1987 Amin-Arsala worked for the World
Bank, starting with their young professionals program and later holding various economic
and senior operational posts. His personal connection with the United States is strong.
Early in his career in the United States Amin-Arsala was a Farsi language trainer for
three consecutive Peace Corps training programs; he married one of his Peace Corps
students, Betsy Thomas, and they have two daughters.
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In 1987, Amin-Arsala left the World Bank and returned to Afghanistan to join the Afghan
resistance to overthrow the Soviet occupation. Since then he has been among a handful of
influential and professionally
trained Afghans developing self-government for the Afghan people. During that liberation
effort, he served as a senior advisor and member of the Supreme Council of the Afghan
Unity of Mujahideen. For three years beginning in 1989, he served as minister of finance
of the Afghan Interim Government in exile. In 1993, the fomer king of Afghanistan, His
Majesty Mohammed Zahir Shah, appointed Amin-Arsala foreign minister and later made him a
senior member of the Executive Council of the Loya Jirga, the traditional council of
Afghan tribal leaders who were to determine the shape of a new government for the nation.
He played a key role in the Intra-Afghan Bonn Conference that produced a political roadmap
after the fall of the Taliban regime and was appointed vice chair and minister of finance
of the interim administration.
When the Loya Jirga met in June 2002 to create a transitional government that would
prepare the nation for popular elections, Hamid Karzai was chosen as president and, among
his cabinet, Amin-Arsala was named vice president. In that office, he works as head of the
Independent Administration Reform and Civil Service Commission, the National Census
Commission, the Coordination Council and is a member of the Afghan National Security
Council.
To learn more about the NPCA’s 25th anniversary national conference, click here.
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