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Secretary Rice meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, Wednesday, June 28. (©AP/WWP)
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28 June 2006
Rice Promises Strong, "Enduring" U.S. Commitment to Afghanistan, June 28, 2006(In visit to Kabul, Rice says the Taliban and other extremists cannot win)
Washington -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States has a “strong” and “enduring” commitment to Afghanistan, and will continue the fight against Taliban and other violent extremists threatening the country “until it is victoriously concluded.”
Speaking with Afghan President Hamid Karzai after their meeting in Kabul June 28, Rice said the United States considers Afghanistan “to be a friend for the long term,” and that she is confident the country’s democratic institutions and its future “are indeed getting stronger and getting stronger each day.”
“I have said before that we made the mistake once before of leaving Afghanistan and of not sustaining our commitment to our relationship here. We will not make that mistake again,” she said.
She added that the commitment from the international community is also “very, very strong and will remain so.”
Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States are working together against terrorism to defeat a common enemy, and the terrorists will not win, she said.
“They don't have a positive agenda for anyone. All that they have is a view of destruction and backwardness and hopelessness, and that is not going to win,” Rice said.
However, “We can all do more. We can all work harder. We all need to constantly assess our strategies, look at our tactics, make certain that we are responding to their changing tactics, because this is a thinking enemy that changes its tactics, too,” she said.
President Karzai said Afghanistan has accomplished much in the five years since it was freed from Taliban rule. “Whatever was asked of the Afghan people in the Bonn agreement has been fulfilled on time. We have constitution, elections for the president, a very vibrant parliament and a strengthening civil society,” he said.
The country’s success is not fully reflected in the press, he said, adding that Afghanistan has “won massively” in the fight against terrorism. He cited the return of 4.5 million refugees, 60,000 Pakistani workers, and a huge increase of imports from neighboring Pakistan, Iran, and other neighbors.
The Afghan leader also acknowledged continuing problems, such as a weak bureaucracy and police force, corruption, and the drug trade. “There are problems and some of them very serious ones, but that is the situation all over the world. … But we, as any other government, are working stage by stage to correct [them],” he said.
Secretary Rice said that optimism over Afghanistan’s progress does not ignore the country’s problems and challenges, but at the same time, the country made “extraordinary” progress.
“There is a still a lot of hard work to do, but the Afghan people need to know that we appreciate their commitment and their sacrifice and how much they have achieved,” she said.
The transcript of Secretary Rice’s remarks can be found at the State Department Web site. While in Afghanistan, she also gave interviews to Radio Azadi and the Voice of America.
For additional information, see Rebuilding Afghanistan.
