Text 3242, 405 rader
Skriven 2006-09-22 23:31:28 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (060922) for Fri, 2006 Sep 22
===================================================

===========================================================================
President Bush and President Musharraf of Pakistan Participate in Press
Availability
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 22, 2006

President Bush and President Musharraf of Pakistan Participate in Press
Availability
The East Room

President's Remarks view

˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: Global Diplomacy

10:21 A.M. EDT

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you very much, please be seated. Laura and I
appreciate the opportunity to welcome President and Mrs. Musharraf here to
Washington. We remember fondly, Mr. President, your great hospitality in
Pakistan and we remember the importance of that visit -- it reconfirmed our
friendship, gave you and me a chance to discuss important issues. And
there's no more important issue than defending our peoples.

This President is a strong defender of freedom and the people of Pakistan,
and I appreciate your leadership.

PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF: Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT BUSH: He understands that we are in a struggle against extremists
who will use terror as a weapon. He understands it just about as good as
anybody in the world -- after all, they've tried to take his life. These
extremists who can't stand the thought of a moderate leader leading an
important country like Pakistan want to kill the President. That should say
things to the people of Pakistan and the people of America, that because he
has been a strong, forceful leader, he has become a target of those who
can't stand the thought of moderation prevailing.

I admire your leadership. I admire your courage. And I thank you very much
for working on common strategies to protect our respective peoples.

We had a good discussion here today. We talked about how our intelligence
cooperation can continue. I want to remind the people of Pakistan and the
people of America that because of the good work of our intelligence forces
and Pakistani intelligence forces, as we helped people in the United
Kingdom, we prevented the loss of innocent life. That kind of cooperation
is necessary in a world in which extremists and radicals are willing to
kill to try to achieve political objectives.

We talked about the earthquake recovery, and our nation was proud to
support you, Mr. President, because we care when we see people suffering.
And I was briefed by you and your administration when I was there and I was
impressed by the great organization and compassion shown for the Pakistani
people by your government. I hope all is going well, particularly for those
who suffered mightily.

We talked about economic development and the need to move forward on a
reconstruction opportunity zones, as well as a bilateral investment treaty.
In other words, our relationship is more than just helping to secure our
respective homelands. Ours is a relationship that recognizes that through
economic prosperity, people can embetter themselves.

We had a very interesting briefing on the federally administered tribal
areas. The governor of the areas are with us here, and he briefed me and
members of my national security team on the strategy to strengthen
governance and to promote economic development.

We talked about education. The first time I ever met President Musharraf,
he talked about the need to make sure that school systems in Pakistan
worked well. I was impressed then, and I'm impressed now, by your
commitment to an education system that prepares students for the -- and
gives students the skills necessary to compete in a global economy.

We talked about democracy. The last time I was with the President, he
assured me, and assured the people that were listening to the news
conference, that there would be free and fair elections in Pakistan in
2007. He renewed that commitment, because he understands that the best way
to defeat radicalism and extremism is to give people a chance to
participate in the political process of a nation.

We talked about -- we talked about India in relations -- and the
President's relations with India. I was pleased to see that in Havana Prime
Minister Singh and President Musharraf had another discussion. I think it's
very important that the -- that the issue of Kashmir move forward and be
resolved peacefully. And I appreciate your efforts, Mr. President.

We talked, of course, about Afghanistan. And President Musharraf and
President Karzai and I will have dinner right here in the White House next
week. And it's going to be an important discussion. It's going to be an
important discussion because one of the most important avenues for peace is
for Afghanistan to succeed. And it's in our mutual interests that we work
together to help that country that's been devastated by war succeed. And so
I look forward to our trilateral discussion, Mr. President. It's going to
be a good one and it's going to be an interesting one. And it's an
important discussion.

All in all, we've had yet another good meeting between people who are able
to speak frankly with each other and people who share the common desire for
our people to live in security and peace.

Welcome.

PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF: Thank you very much. I would like to, first of all,
express my gratitude and also on behalf of my entire delegation for the
warmth and hospitality that we have received, and many courtesies that are
being extended to us since our arrival in the United States.

I had an excellent meeting with President Bush. We, first of all,
reinforced our trust and confidence in each other. I trust President Bush,
and I have total confidence in him that he desires well for Pakistan and
for our region. And I trust him also that he's trying to do his best for
bringing peace to the world. And I trust him also that he's trying to
resolve the core issue of the Palestinian dispute.

We discussed the entire gambit of relations bilaterally between the United
States and Pakistan, and also in our region and on international issues.
Bilaterally, we reinforced our desire to have this relationship on a
long-term basis, broad-based, and a strategic relationship. When we are
talking of broad-based, whatever the President has said, it involves all
aspects which we discussed. It has its political and diplomatic aspects,
which we reinforced, and then our desire to fight terrorism and succeed
against terrorism.

Other than that issue in the social sector, on the economy, how whatever
assistance is being given to us, whatever assistance we require, our
requests on that -- especially in the field of trade and investment, which
are the main areas which we require assistance in -- otherwise, on a
broad-based level, assistance in the education and health sector, on the
defense side, the F-16 deals. All this was discussed.

On the regional issues, on the international plain, we did discuss the core
issue of the Palestinian dispute, which needs to be resolved, and being at
the core. And I am extremely glad that the President has a desire and a
will to resolve this Palestinian dispute. I wish him very well because that
lies at the heart of all problems, even at the heart of terrorism and
extremism.

On the regional side, in our region, we also discussed the rapprochement
going on between Pakistan and India. And I proudly told the President that
we had -- I had an excellent meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in
Havana. And it was a step forward towards resolution of disputes between
India and Pakistan. I did tell him on the way forward that we are moving on
the Kashmir dispute especially.

Coming on the other side, we had an in-depth discussion on what is
happening in Afghanistan and our tribal agency. They are -- I explained to
him whatever we are doing in the form of the peace treaty that we have just
signed through a grand jirga, which is an assembly of elders.

This treaty is not to deal with the Taliban. It is actually to fight the
Taliban. The misperception in the media, I did clarify to the President.
And may I very briefly say -- and what I explained to the President -- that
this is a holistic approach that we are taking to fighting terrorism in
Pakistan, in the tribal agencies of Pakistan. This is a political site of
the holistic strategy -- the holistic strategy being the military arm being
used, a political element, an administrative element, and a reconstruction
element.

We want to move on all these aspects forward, confining myself to this
deal. This deal is not at all with the Taliban, as I said, this is against
the Taliban, actually. This deal is with the tribal elders of north
Waziristan agency. And the deal has three bottom lines, which we fixed for
ourselves. And this is very important, which I explained to the President.

Number one, there will be no al Qaeda activity in our tribal agency or
across the border in Afghanistan. There will be no Taliban activity in our
tribal agency or across in Afghanistan. There will be no Talibanization,
which is an obscuritas thoughts or way of life -- no Talibanization. All
these three have been agreed by the tribal elders who signed that deal. And
when they signed the deal, they are honor-bound, and they have already
strict honor code to not only abide by it, but also that whoever violates
it, they'll move against them.

So this is, in brief, the deal which I explained to the President. And I
know that he's satisfied with that deal. And maybe this shows the light or
the way forward for bringing peace to the region.

So this is what we discussed holistically. I would like to conclude by
saying we had a total understanding of views between President Bush and
myself. And as I said, we reinforced our trust and confidence in each
other. Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Good job.

Two questions apiece. Deb.

Q Mr. President, after 9/11, would the United States have actually attacked
Pakistan if President Musharraf had not agreed to cooperate with the war on
terrorism? He says that the United States was threatening to bomb his
country back into the stone age.

And, President Musharraf, would Pakistan have given up its backing of the
Taliban if this threat had not come from Armitage?

PRESIDENT BUSH: First, let me -- she's asking about the Armitage thing. The
first I heard of this was when I read it in the newspaper today. You know,
I was -- I guess I was taken aback by the harshness of the words.

All I can tell you is, is that shortly after 9/11, Secretary Colin Powell
came in and said, President Musharraf understands the stakes and he wants
to join and help route out an enemy that has come and killed 3,000 of our
citizens. As a matter of fact, my recollection was that one of the first
leaders to step up and say that the stakes have changed, that attack on
America that killed 3,000 of the citizens needs to be dealt with firmly,
was the President. And if I'm not mistaken, Colin told us that, if not the
night of September the 11th, shortly thereafter. I need to make sure I get
my facts straight, but it was soon.

I don't know of any conversation that was reported in the newspaper like
that. I just don't know about it.

PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF: I would like to -- I am launching my book on the 25th,
and I am honor-bound to Simon and Schuster not to comment on the book
before that day. (Laughter.)

PRESIDENT BUSH: In other words, buy the book, is what he's saying.
(Laughter.)

Q My question is for the U.S. President. Your Excellency, President
Musharraf has issued a call for building bridges and promoting interfaith
harmony between the West and the Islamic world, which is in upheaval and in
complete turmoil. So your comments of Islamic fascists, and then the
comments of the Pope, have inflamed the Islamic world. And my question is
that would you take the leading role, along with President Musharraf, to
build these bridges and promote interfaith harmony to avert any wrong
notion of class of civilizations, sir?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I appreciate the President's leadership in promoting
harmony. There is unbelievable propaganda in the Middle East these days
that try to inflame passion. The propagandists are attempting to create
conditions where terror is justified. And so at my speech at the United
Nations, I stood up and said loud and clear, America respects Islam. And we
do. We don't respect people who kill in the name of Islam to achieve
political objectives, like the terrorists do.

As a matter of fact, these extremists exploit propaganda in order to
justify their behavior. All of us need to step up and talk about a world in
which we respect each other's religions. As a matter of fact, it's very
important for Muslims around the world to know there's a lot of Muslims
living at peace here in the United States. They are proud Americans and
they're equal to me as a citizen. We respect their religions.

I repeat to you, however, that the free world and the moderate world must
stand up to these extremists and not let them spread their hateful
propaganda, not let them try to incite people to acts of violence, because
these extremists are not only against Western people, they're also against
moderate people. And the President is reaching out to help understand --
the world to understand the Muslim religion is a peaceful religion is very
important. And we can help, and we will help.

One way we can help is to work with the Palestinians and the Israelis to
achieve peace. I'm the first President ever to have articulated a two-state
solution. I believe a Palestinian state, as a democracy living side-by-side
with Israel, will yield the peace. What's important is for people to
understand that in order to have that peace and that Palestinian state,
people have got to recognize Israel's right to exist in order for this to
happen. You can't ask people to negotiate with people who say you shouldn't
exist.

We will continue to give aid to people who suffer. We didn't ask the
question whether -- you know, what was the nature of the religion of the
people who suffered in Pakistan when we spent a half a billion dollars to
help this President. We said, they're suffering and we want to help. And so
we will continue to outreach.

It's important, however, for people in the Middle East to reject the
extremist propaganda that is spreading, in many cases, absolute lies about
the intentions of the United States. They love to say this is a war against
Islam. I can't think of anything more false. These are moderate, reasonable
people who reject extremism in order for there to be peace. And so I'll
work hard to do my part. Thank you for that question.

Steve.

Q Thank you, sir. There's been a back-and-forth this week over whether the
U.S. needs permission to strike inside Pakistan if Osama bin Laden is
located. Could each of you give your position on that? And did you -- are
you satisfied with his assurances on the tribal deal?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, I appreciate the briefing on the tribal
deal. When the President looks me in the eye and says, the tribal deal is
intended to reject the Talibanization of the people, and that there won't
be a Taliban and won't be al Qaeda, I believe him, you know? This is a
person with whom I've now had close working relationships for
five-and-a-half years. And when he says, if we find -- when we find Osama
bin Laden, he will be brought to justice, I believe him. And we'll let the
tactics speak for themselves after it happens.

We're on the hunt together. It's in the President's interest that al Qaeda
be brought to justice. And it's in our interest. And we collaborate and we
strategize and we talk a lot about how best to do this.

Q So you do have permission to go inside Pakistan?

PRESIDENT BUSH: All I can tell you is, is that when Osama bin Laden is
found, he will be brought to justice. And that's what we've continually
discussed.

PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF: May I add?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Yes, please.

PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF: I think, as the President said, we are on the hunt
together against these people. Now why are we bothering or how to -- the
semantics of the tactics of how to deal with the situation? We will deal
with it. We are on the hunt together. You want the person -- if at all we
confront him, if at all we find out his location, we are quite clear what
to do.

But let's not get involved in how it ought to be done, by whom it ought to
be done. There's total coordination at the intelligence level between the
two forces, there's coordination at the operational level, at the strategic
level, even at the tactical level. So, therefore, we are working together,
and when the situation arises, we need to pick the right decision to
strike. That's how I --

PRESIDENT BUSH: You probably don't want to let them know what we're
thinking about anyway, do we?

PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF: And may I also say that we need to have -- ladies and
gentlemen here, we have the pieces of -- a relationship is trust and
confidence. Now, if we don't have that trust and confidence in each other,
and we think that we are bluffing each other -- I don't think that's a good
way of moving forward, anyway.

Q Mr. President, I have two-part question. And, first, I must (inaudible)
the remarks which you gave at the outset about President Musharraf. And
second is, Mr. President, in Pakistan, we cherish the idea of having
strategic and long partnership with United States of America. But we found
that there is a discriminate (inaudible) is being followed by your great
country pertaining to the (inaudible) of the nuclear technology for the
peaceful purpose. Pakistan needs energy, and we have been denied of that.
Could you ensure us that this discrimination will come to an end after this
great meeting with President Musharraf?

And the second part of my question, Mr. President, is that President
Musharraf has been asking resolution of the problem of Palestine and
Kashmir for the sustainable peace in the world, especially in this part of
the world. Aren't you going to contemplate -- are you contemplating some
step to take some initiative to resolve these two problems? And question
for Mr. President is, is how far --

PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF: Three in one. (Laughter.)

PRESIDENT BUSH: If I ask him -- then I'll remember yours.

Q -- talk about these discussions with President Bush and the agenda, the
item for which you are going to take up with the President of the United
States -- (inaudible). Thank you, sirs.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Man, you represented the entire press corps there, that's
good. (Laughter.) We talked about energy, and we talked about our need to
work through the recent history that we've had together on dealing with
proliferation matters.

Secondly, in terms of Kashmir and Palestine: Kashmir issue will be solved
when two leaders decide to solve it. And we want to help. The United States
can't force nations to reach an agreement just because we want there to be
an agreement. Lasting agreements occur when leaders of nations say, let's
get the past behind us and let's move forward.

I am encouraged by the meetings that the President and the Prime Minister
of India have had. It is an indication that there is desire at the
leadership level to solve this longstanding problem.

Leadership is also going to be required between Israel and Palestine. We,
of course, can help and will help. But it's important for you to understand
that we cannot impose peace. We can help create the conditions for peace to
occur. We can lay out vision. We can talk to world leaders, and we do. We
can provide aid to help institutional building, so that a democracy can
flourish.

But, ultimately, peace, longstanding peace depends upon the will of
leaders. I'm impressed by this President's will to get something done in
Kashmir. He and I have talked about this issue in the past. He has said he
was going to reach out to the Prime Minister of India, and he has. And our
hope is that this process continues move forward.

I asked the President, just like I would ask the Prime Minister of India,
what can we do to help; what would you like the United States to do to
facilitate an agreement? Would you like us to get out of the way? Would you
like us not to show up? Would you like us to be actively involved? How can
we help you, if you so desire, achieve peace? And that's the role of the
United States, as far as I'm concerned.

PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF: Thank you. I think I've already answered. We had
far-reaching discussion, encompassing bilateral issues, regional and
international. I think we have general consensus on all issues.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, Mr. President. Good job.

PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF: Thank you.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Buy the book. (Laughter.)

END 10:46 A.M. EDT

===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060922.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)