Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and Afghan President Karzai hold a press conference after their meeting at the Pentagon. (©AP Images)

Rebuilding Afghanistan (a State Dept./IIP webpage)

25 September 2006

(Karzai says Afghan people must confront narco-trafficking problem)

Washington – Afghan President Hamid Karzai thanked the U.S. military for liberating Afghanistan from the oppressive Taliban regime and for providing security as the country works to rebuild its institutions and infrastructure.

“[M]y message for the American soldiers in Afghanistan is that they have liberated us from tyranny, from terrorism, from oppression, from occupation into a country that is now moving towards prosperity, that is once again the home of all Afghans,” Karzai told reporters September 25 after a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Karzai said that Afghanistan has been transformed fundamentally by the U.S. intervention.  “Afghanistan was not the home of all Afghans,” he said. “Today it is. Everybody's back in that country with a parliament, with a constitution, with a market economy, with a free press, with all that.”

He added that the ongoing effort to fight terrorism in Afghanistan is bolstering the security of the entire world.

The Afghan president acknowledged that Afghanistan’s opium trade continues to threaten the country’s development.

“Narcotics is a menace to Afghanistan. It's also an embarrassment to us as a nation. We are ashamed of that terrible product hurting us and hurting young people around the world,” he said.

Karzai said it is the responsibility of the Afghan people to rid their country of the narcotics trade in the interest of their future prosperity and to ensure their good standing in the international community, but he welcomed foreign assistance in achieving this goal.

Rumsfeld praised Afghanistan’s progress and welcomed NATO’s unprecedented mission to support security operations in Afghanistan.  NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan is the first major military mission the organization has undertaken outside of Europe.

“[T]he leadership that NATO's providing is important. It's valuable, and it reflects a commitment on the part of those 26 countries to your success and to the success of the Afghan people,” he told Karzai.

KARZAI ADDRESSES AUDIENCE AT WILSON CENTER

Later on September 25, the Afghan president told a group at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars that “reliance on religious radicalism as an instrument of policy” must stop. The use of radicalism began in the fight against the Soviets, but it had turned against the Afghan people, he said.

Making a distinction between genuine madrassas, or schools for Islamic studies, and those that taught violent radicalism, Karzai called for the closure of madrassas that turn boys into suicide bombers.

“Going to the sources of terrorism, where they get trained, where they get motivated, where they get financed, where they get deployed, is necessary,” he said. “There will not be an end to terrorism unless we remove the sources of hatred in madrassas.” He said those who run such schools should be arrested and imprisoned.

Karzai expressed optimism that the Afghan economy could grow once opium poppy cultivation is eradicated. He said that infrastructure had improved: new roads have been built and telecommunications have expanded. Recently, an Afghan-owned Coca-Cola plant was established. “A lot has happened in Afghanistan,” he said, “And a lot more needs to be done in the coming years.”

For additional information, see Rebuilding Afghanistan.