Protecting and promoting the rights of the Afghan people has been the cornerstone of all our efforts to build a peaceful and stable Afghanistan. Central to those efforts is enabling women to regain their historical role as proactive citizens in Afghan society. Afghanistan is pursuing the vigorous implementation of resolution 1325 (2000) through our national priority programme. We have also launched our national action plan for the women of Afghanistan as a 10-year blue print that contains specific and time-bound benchmarks for progress in various areas. As the implementation of the action plan continues apace, we are confident that we will realize our vision of seeing Afghan women thrive and be empowered in all sectors of society — the social, political and economic.