Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, Commander, ISAF Joint Command, at the Regional Command - North Transfer of Authority ceremony, 20 June 2010.

I want to first recognize the Afghan sons and daughters serving in their National Army, National Police, and National Directorate of Security. These courageous men and women fight for the sovereignty of Afghanistan. They shed their blood to give hope to others – their Afghan brothers, sisters, children, and future generations.

Frank – what a superb job you and your team have done. Today, Afghans from Faryab to Badakhshan have the best opportunity for peace and prosperity they have seen in over three decades.

General Leidenberger calls Regional Command North the Combined Team North – and he is exactly right. It is a team of some 40,000 service members from Afghanistan and nineteen other nations. Germany, Hungary, Norway, and Sweden and their civilian partners lead five Provincial Reconstruction Teams. Together, Combined Team North is helping Afghans bring good governance, responsive development, and durable security to more than one third of the nation’s people.

And Frank, you’ve proven the enormous value of embedded partnering. In combined operations like Taohid II in the Baghlan-i Jadid district of Baghlan, and Operation Kukchah in the Darqad District of Takhar Province, Afghans see their security forces lead the operation. They see their forces take freedom of movement from the Taliban. They see their forces bring the security that allows development and stability. With Afghans leading these operations – and partnered in others like Sher Chesan and Chasme Naw – there is good reason for the people to begin to trust and have confidence in their government.

And the district and provincial governments are central to success. They know they have to keep doing better, and better, and better in providing for their people, in building the path to peace.

The insurgents – given a path to peace, they destroy.

Given opportunity to strengthen families, they bomb weddings, murder Afghan brothers and sisters.

When young Afghan men seek direction, the insurgents guide them to suicide in empty fields.

When a gentle man serves the people of his district, the insurgents murder him. And they murder his son along with him.

When brother tries to help brother – they kill both brothers.

And while good Afghan people work to give a young boy hope, the insurgents slaughter him.

The insurgents leave no question about their vision for Afghanistan: it is a murdered child hanging on a tree.

They have nothing else, so they offer brutality, inhumanity, fear, and uncertainty.

But the will of the Afghan people endures, and it endures beyond the insurgents’ violent death throes. As the United Nation’s Steffan di Mistura said, “They will never win . . . and they know that.”

They will not win because the Afghan people choose the hope and opportunity for prosperity over violence and suffering.

Those who believe the Afghan people will let their nation slip back to the death grip of insurgents simply do not know the Afghan people like we do. They fail to consider their commitment and resilience.

They fail to consider growing opportunities for fathers and sons to put down their arms and be welcomed home to families and communities.

They fail to consider 40,000 more coalition troops arriving this year – next month some 2,000 more right here in Regional Command North.

They fail to consider the resolve of an expanding coalition with a common cause – protect the Afghan people.

They forget an international commitment to a long-term partnership that goes far-beyond security: partnership that extends to economic development, government capacity, and on into the future.

They fail to consider magnificent formations of heroes like those filling the ranks of the German Bundeswehr and Combined Team North.

Frank – Thank you. Safe journey home. God bless you, Manuela, Felix and Max.

General Fritz – welcome. You will not find a better, more courageous formation to lead anywhere. Build on these partnerships General Leidenberger has put into place.
In April after losing four of our German soldiers, Germany’s Foreign Minister said, “The treacherous attack touches all Germans.” Then he added, it “touches the great majority of the Afghan people, who detest this terror as much as we do.”

So help the Afghans rid the nation of the terror they so completely detest. Invest every effort in helping our Afghan partners lead. It has been the great German tradition for nearly a century.

God bless all the officers, noncommissioned officers, troopers, and civilians of Regional Command North.

Tah-Shakoor, Manana, and thank you.

Dari Version: Transcript: Lt. Gen. Rodriguez at the Regional Command - North Transfer of Authority