Text 5097, 364 rader
Skriven 2007-08-06 23:31:14 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (070806) for Mon, 2007 Aug 6
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President Bush Participates in Joint Press Availability with President
Karzai of Afghanistan
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary August 6, 2007

President Bush Participates in Joint Press Availability with President
Karzai of Afghanistan Camp David

˙ /news/releases/2007/08/20070806.wm.v.html ˙˙Presidential Remarks
˙˙Audio ˙˙Photos

˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: Rebuilding Afghanistan ˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: Global Diplomacy

11:17 A.M. EDT

PRESIDENT BUSH: Good morning. Thank you; be seated. Welcome.

I appreciate a man I've come to admire, President Karzai, for joining us.
Laura and I had the honor of hosting the President for dinner last night.
He and I spent a lot of this morning just sitting down alone talking about
our common interests, common concerns. President Karzai is an optimistic
man. He's watched his country emerge from days of darkness to days of hope.

PRESIDENT KARZAI: Absolutely.

PRESIDENT BUSH: I appreciate your stewardship. I appreciate your commitment
to empowering your people. I appreciate your strong stance for freedom and
justice, and I'm proud to call you an ally in this war against those who
would wreak havoc in order to deny people a chance to live in peace.

We're working closely together to help the people of Afghanistan prosper.
We work together to give the people of Afghanistan a chance to raise their
children in a hopeful world. And we're working together to defeat those who
would try to stop the advance of a free Afghan society.

We spent a fair amount of time talking about our security strategy. You
might remember it was last winter that people were speculating about the
Taliban spring offensive, and about how the Taliban had regrouped and were
going to go on the attack inside Afghanistan. There was a spring offensive,
all right -- it was conducted by U.S., NATO and, equally importantly,
Afghan troops. And we went on the offense because we understand that it is
in our mutual interests to deny extremists the opportunity to derail this
young democracy.

There is still a fight going on, but I'm proud to report to the American
people that the Afghan army is in the fight. The government is in the fight
and the army is in the fight. Afghan national security forces are
increasing in strength; there's about 110,000 Afghans now defending their
nation. And more Afghans are stepping up to serve and it's in the interest
of the United States to help you develop that national army and local
police that will send a clear message to the people of Afghanistan that the
governments can help provide an opportunity for children to raise their
children in a peaceful world.

There are a lot of forces there in Afghanistan supporting this government,
and our 23,500 troops are proud to stand side by side with 26,000 troops
from other nations. And we applaud those countries who have committed their
troops to help Afghanistan succeed. We've committed more than $23 billion
since 2001 to help rebuild the country. I think our citizens will be
interested to know, for example, that 7,000 community health care workers
have been trained that provide about 340,000 Afghan men, women and children
a month with good health care.

I remember talking a lot about how the Taliban prevented young girls from
going to school in Afghanistan. American citizens recoil with horror to
think about a government that would deny a young child the opportunity to
have the basics necessary to succeed in life. Today there are nearly 5
million students going to school in Afghanistan, a third of who are girls.
Still work to be done, don't get me wrong, but progress is being made, Mr.
President, and we're proud of you, proud of the work you're doing.

We talked about the need to stem the narcotics trade. I'm sure the
President will comment on this. He understands that it's very important for
farmers to be incented to grow crops other than poppy, and that he knows
full well the United States is watching, measuring and trying to help
eradicate poppy cultivation. We spent more than a fair amount of time on
it; we spent a lot of time on it. And it's important that we get this
right. Mr. President, I appreciate your commitment to not only dealing with
the poppy growers and the poppy crop, but also dealing with corruption.
It's very important that our societies emerge in such a way that the people
have confidence in the capacity of government to conduct the affairs --
conduct their affairs in a way that's above board and honest and
transparent.

And finally, I do want to congratulate you on the joint jirga that's coming
up. This is a meeting between President Karzai, President Musharraf and
representative elements from parts of their respective countries, all
coming together to talk about reconciliation and how we can work together
-- how you can work together to achieve common solutions to problems. And
the main problem is to fight extremism, to recognize that history has
called us into action. And by fighting extremists and radicals, we help
people realize dreams. And helping people realize dreams helps promote
peace. That's what we want.

You come from a part of the world, Mr. President, where there's a long
history of violence and a long history of people seeking freedom. It's in
the interests of the United States to be on the -- tip the scales of
freedom your way. You only do so with strong leadership, and I appreciate
the leadership you're providing. So welcome to Camp David.

PRESIDENT KARZAI: Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. President,
for seeing me in Camp David. You and the First Lady are generous and kind
hosts and thank you very much for that.

Mr. President, I am here today to once again thank you and the American
people for all that you have done for Afghanistan; for our liberation
first, and then for our stability and prosperity. We have gone a long way.

I have been here many times before in America, thanking the American people
for what they have given to Afghanistan. I have spoken of roads, I have
spoken of schools, I have spoken of clinics, I have spoken of health
services, I have spoken of education, I have spoken of agriculture, I've
spoken of lots of achievements. I've also had requests for help that you
have delivered to us.

But today I'm going to speak about only one achievement that means so much
for the Afghan people, and surely to you and the rest of the world. That is
that Afghanistan today, with the help that you have provided and our other
allies have provided can save, is saving the life of at least 50,000
infants after they are born, and the life of 85,000 children under five.

Mr. President, when you and I begin to think of the mothers who can have
their babies safe today, then we know the value and the importance of this
achievement. And thank you very, very much for this tremendous help.
Afghanistan would have not had 85,000 children living today had you not
been there to help us with the rest of the world.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, sir.

PRESIDENT KARZAI: That's a massive achievement, and I am happy about it.
I'm sure you are, too, and so are women and mothers around the world.

Mr. President, as we have gone a long way, progress has been made. We still
continue to fight terrorism; our enemy is still there -- defeated, but
still hiding in the mountains. And our duty is to complete the job, to get
them out of their hideouts in the mountains and to bring justice to the
people of Afghanistan, to the people of America, and to the people around
the world who are threatened by these terrorists.

One of the significant steps that we have taken together with Pakistan to
have an effective fight against terrorism, an effective fight against
extremism and radicalism, was discussed during the dinner that you kindly
hosted for me and President Musharraf. And the result of that is going to
be seen in two days from today, the 9th of August, where in Kabul we will
have the joint Pakistan-Afghanistan jirga. I hope very much that this jirga
will bring to us what we need, which I think it will. And thank you very
much for this opportunity -- you cause us to have a meeting and to have a
result of that.

Mr. President, we have a long journey ahead of us. But what we have
traveled so far has given us greater hope for a better future, for a better
life. The Afghans are still suffering, but there are millions of Afghans
who are enjoying a better and more secure life, who can send their children
to school and who can work in their fields. And thank you very much for
that.

Yes, we do have the problem of poppies and narcotics in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is committed to fighting it because this evil is first hurting
us, and then youth in the rest of the world. So this is for Afghanistan to
work against, and for the rest of us to work against. We are committed. It
will take time; we are realistic about that. But the fight is there and I
hope your assistance will continue to be delivered to Afghanistan to fight
narcotics. We have raised our army, indeed. We are working on our police.
Our police needs a lot of improvement. And I'm glad that you have committed
to helping us with the raising of better police in Afghanistan.

The fight against corruption is going on. We have developed a mechanism,
worked through a commission headed by the Chief Justice of Afghanistan that
will be ready in two months from now, and will be announced to the Afghan
people on hows and measures and the time frame that we will need to have an
effective fight against corruption in Afghanistan.

The rest, life, is going on well, with a lot of hope. We have a better
administration, more capabilities. We can do lots of things on our own, and
I'm sure your continued assistance will make life better for us. And thank
you very much, Mr. President. Nice of you to receive me here.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thanks for coming. A couple of questions. Deb.

Q Mr. President, if you had actionable intelligence about the whereabouts
of top al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan, would you wait for Musharraf's
permission to send in U.S. forces, even if it meant missing an opportunity
to take them out? Or have you and Musharraf worked out some deal about this
already?

And President Karzai, what will be your top concern when you meet with
Musharraf later this week?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I am confident that with actionable intelligence, we will
be able to bring top al Qaeda to justice. We're in constant communications
with the Pakistan government. It's in their interest that foreign fighters
be brought to justice. After all, these are the same ones who were plotting
to kill President Musharraf. We share a concern. And I'm confident, with
real actionable intelligence, we will get the job done.

PRESIDENT KARZAI: When President Musharraf visits Afghanistan on the 9th of
August to inaugurate the joint Pakistan-Afghanistan convention, or jirga,
together with me, we will be discussing further improvements and relations
between the two countries. The two countries are neighbors; they've been
having extensive relationships with each other. We will be discussing
improvement of those relations on all aspects of them. We will also be
discussing the possible outcome of the joint jirga between the two
countries, and how effectively, then, we can carry on the fight against
terrorism in both countries and in the region as a result of that jirga. So
it's a -- it's going to be, I'm sure, a good meeting, ma'am.

Afghan press?

Q I will ask in Pashto and then I will translate my question. My question
is for Mr. Karzai. (Speaking Pashto.) I will repeat in English, too. Four
years ago, in a press conference, Mr. President Karzai said Taliban do not
pose any threat to Afghan people. So who do you think supported Taliban to
threaten the security by doing kidnappings and taking the government
officials, and why?

PRESIDENT KARZAI: Four years ago I did say that, and I continue to say
that: The Taliban do pose dangers to our innocent people; to children going
to school; to our clergy; to our teachers; to our engineers; to
international aid workers. They are not posing any threat to the government
of Afghanistan, they are not posing any threat to the institutions of
Afghanistan, or to the build-up of institutions of Afghanistan. It's a
force that's defeated; it's a force that is frustrated; it's a force that
is acting in cowardice by killing children going to school.

Who is supporting them is a question that we have been working on for a
long time, and since then. And I hope that the jirga between us and
Pakistan will give us solutions to some of the questions that we have.

PRESIDENT BUSH: One thing is for certain: We know the vision -- their
vision of how to govern. They've been in power. They've had the opportunity
to show the world how they think and what they do. It's instructive for
people to speak to a mother of a young girl about what life was like under
the Taliban. These are brutal, cold-blooded killers.

PRESIDENT KARZAI: Yes.

PRESIDENT BUSH: That's what they are. And the fundamental question facing
those of us who believe in freedom is whether or not we confront them, and
whether or not it's worth it -- the effort -- to spread an alternative to
their hateful vision. And we've come to the conclusion it is. And that's
why President Karzai stands right here at Camp David, discussing common
concerns, common opportunities, about how to defeat a vision of darkness.
That's what they are. They just don't believe in freedom. They don't
believe it's possible to live in a society where people are allowed to
express themselves in free fashion.

And it's really part of an ongoing challenge that the free world faces. The
real question is whether or not those of us who have the blessings of
liberty will continue to pursue policies -- foreign policy, security policy
aimed at not only protecting our homeland, but aimed at laying a condition
for peace to prevail.

Caren.

Q Thank you, Mr. President. President Karzai said yesterday that he
believed Iran was playing a helpful role in Afghanistan. Was he able to
convince you in your meetings that that was the case, or do you still have
concerns about Iran's role? And I have a question for President Karzai as
well. Just wondering if the President was able to give you the assurances
that you sought about the effort to reduce civilian casualties in
Afghanistan?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Let me comment on the civilian casualties, if I might.
First, I fully understand the angst, the agony and the sorrow that Afghan
citizens feel when an innocent life is lost. I know that must cause grief
in villages and heartbreak in homes. Secondly, I can assure the Afghan
people, like I assured the President, that we do everything we can to
protect the innocent; that our military operations are mindful that
innocent life might be exposed to danger, and we adjust accordingly.

Thirdly, it is the Taliban who surround themselves with innocent life as
human shields. The Taliban are the cold-blooded killers. The Taliban are
the murderers. The Taliban have no regard for human life. And therefore,
we've spent some time talking about -- as the President rightly expressed
his concerns about civilian casualty. And I assured him that we share those
concerns.

Secondly, it's up to Iran to prove to the world that they're a stabilizing
force as opposed to a destabilizing force. After all, this is a government
that has proclaimed its desire to build a nuclear weapon. This is a
government that is in defiance of international accord, a government that
seems to be willing to thumb its nose at the international community and,
at the same time, a government that denies its people a rightful place in
the world and denies its people the ability to realize their full
potential.

So I believe that it's in the interests of all of us that we have an Iran
that tries to stabilize, not destabilize; an Iran that gives up its weapons
ambitions. And therefore, we're working to that end. The President knows
best about what's taking place in his country, and of course, I'm willing
to listen. But from my perspective, the burden of proof is on the Iranian
government to show us that they're a positive force. And I must tell you
that this current leadership there is a big disappointment to the people of
Iran. The people of Iran could be doing a lot better than they are today.
But because of the actions of this government, this country is isolated.
And we will continue to work to isolate it, because they're not a force for
good, as far as we can see. They're a destabilizing influence wherever they
are.

Now, the President will have to talk to you about Afghanistan. But I would
be very cautious about whether or not the Iranian influence there in
Afghanistan is a positive force -- and therefore, it's going to be up to
them to prove to us and prove to the government that they are.

PRESIDENT KARZAI: I had a good discussion with President Bush on civilian
casualties. I'm very happy to tell you that President Bush felt very much
with the Afghan people, that he calls the Afghan people allies in the war
against terror, and friends, and that he is as much concerned as I am, as
the Afghan people are. I was very happy with that conversation.

Q Mr. Karzai -- can I ask my question in Dari first?

PRESIDENT KARZAI: Please, yes.

Q (Speaking Dari.) You have recently become a father, and also, you have
recently pardoned a teenager who suicide himself, and you said he washed --
he was brainwashed.

PRESIDENT KARZAI: Brainwashed, yes.

Q Yes. What do you think about the future of Afghanistan in view of this
problem?

PRESIDENT KARZAI: Well, ma'am, the man -- the boy, I should say, that I
pardoned, was a 14-year-old boy from Pakistan's South Waziristan agency. He
was sent by his father to a madrassa to get education because he could not
any more afford to have him in school, because his mother had a heart
ailment, and they had to spend money on her treatment.

Having sent the boy to a madrassa, he disappeared from there. After a few
months his father heard that he was arrested in Afghanistan, and then he
came to Afghanistan. And having seen that this was a teenage -- rather,
legally underage innocent boy, used by terrorists to kill himself and to
kill other innocent people, I felt that it was the right decision to pardon
him to give him a new opportunity for education and a new life, and to send
a message to his mother that your child is going to be back with you. I am
very glad I did that.

But this gives us a lesson about those who are the enemies of all of us,
the enemies of people who use young children, who brainwashes them, and who
forces them to kill themselves.

The message should be clear to the rest of the world about the evil that we
are fighting: The heartless people that we are fighting, who don't even
have any feeling for young children, for babies, for teenagers. Most of
that, we know today, that the terrorists are buying and selling suicide
bombers. We have received calls in our government offices by handlers of
suicide bombers that they want to sell them to us. So it's become a trade,
a mean trade; merchants of death are around there. So it's our job to get
rid of them.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT KARZAI: Thank you very much.

END 11:42 A.M. EDT
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