“The struggle we face here in Afghanistan is as old as human history,” said U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to Afghanistan Hugo Llorens. “It is a fight between those forces that empower and liberate people against those who physically and spiritually subjugate their fellow human beings.”
Speaking in Kabul at a Resolute Support Commemoration Ceremony for the Victims of the May 31 Attack in Kabul, Ambassador Llorens noted, “The struggle in this heroic land is a fight between the vast majority of Afghans who simply want to rebuild their country and create a better life for their sons and daughters, against a small group of people who are filled with hate and know only the path of violence and destruction.”
In the deadliest terror attack to take place in Kabul, to date, a truck bomb exploded near the German embassy on May 31st, killing over 150 and injuring 413, mostly civilians, and damaging several buildings in the embassy. The terrorists responsible for the horrific attack account it a great victory.
“How wrong they are!” said Ambassador Llorens. “Let me say I have no doubt that the forces of light, faith and love will prevail, bring peace, and honor to these brave and proud men, and those thousands of brave young Americans, Afghans and of the other allied nations who have fallen in this cause.”
“The vast majority of Afghans are builders, on the side of progress,” he said. “Each and every day we see the progress Afghans have made in such little time since 2001. The schools, the hospitals, the government buildings, and centers of commerce – cellphones and public services, all accomplished in the past sixteen years – they are physical manifestations of the will of a people who build and believe in peace for themselves and others.”
By contrast, he said,”there exists only a very small minority who are destroyers – those who seek to tear down, it seems, for hateful and evil reasons. But the arc of history is clear – these destroyers cannot prevail, because their ideology is self-destructive, and they will either lay down their arms or meet their end.”
“Afghanistan is not alone in this fight,” he said. “The United States pledges to see this through to the end and to honor our commitments.”
