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Prime Minister Harper stresses the importance of the success of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan

In his inaugural speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Prime Minister Stephen Harper today emphasized that the multinational security and reconstruction operation in Afghanistan is both the UN?s biggest mission and Canada?s most important international mission. The defeat of terrorism, he said, is a mutual responsibility that must never be shirked or abandoned.

?All of our actions in Afghanistan ? civilian and military ? are being carried out under UN Security Council mandate, said the Prime Minister. ?We are in this together, with the support of the democratically-elected Afghan government and under the banner of the organization that represents our collective will.?

The success of the UN-supported mission in Afghanistan, in providing both security and development, is vital to the Afghan people, but is also vital to the health and future of the United Nations, the Prime Minister pointed out.

The Prime Minister also spoke about Canada?s contributions to building a secure and prosperous world in Haiti, Darfur and the Middle East. He expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of the new Human Rights Council and spoke of the need to make the United Nations more accountable and more effectiv