28 January 2002
Transcript: Bush Promises "Lasting Partnership" Between U.S., Afghanistan
(Bush press conference with Afghan leader Karzai January 28) (3600)
President Bush said the United States is committed to building a
"lasting partnership" with Afghanistan.
In a meeting with Afghan Interim Authority Chairman Hamid Karzai at
the White House in Washington January 28, Bush announced a significant
change in U.S. policy toward Afghanistan, a U.S. commitment to help
establish and train a national military for Afghanistan.
"I have just made in my remarks here a significant change of policy,
and that is that we're going to help Afghanistan develop her own
military. That is the most important part of this visit, it seems like
to me, besides the fact of welcoming a man who stands for freedom, a
man who stood for freedom in the face of tyranny," Bush said.
In addition, Bush said the United States will support training
programs for Afghan police officers and he announced that the Overseas
Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) will provide an additional $50
million line of credit for Afghanistan to finance private sector
projects.
The OPIC credit line "builds on the United States' pledge in Tokyo
earlier this month to provide $297 million this year to create jobs
and to start rebuilding Afghanistan's agricultural sector, its health
care system, and its educational system. Yet these efforts are only
the beginning," Bush said.
Regarding the legal status al-Qaeda fighters held at the U.S. naval
base at Guantanamo, Cuba, Bush said the detainees would be considered
"illegal combatants," not prisoners of war, and would be treated
humanely.
Answering a question about his telephone conversation with Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak January 28, Bush said he told the Egyptian
leader that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat must not only renounce
terrorism, but join the effort to arrest terrorists. Bush said the
capture of a ship in early January attempting to smuggle weapons to
Palestinian terrorists made him feel "severe disappointment" in
Arafat.
Following is the transcript of the Bush-Karzai press conference:
(begin transcript)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
January 28, 2002
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN OF THE AFGHAN INTERIM AUTHORITY
HAMID KARZAI
THE PRESIDENT: It's a great honor for me to welcome to the White House
the Chairman of the Afghan Interim Authority, Hamid Karzai.
Mr. Chairman, welcome.
CHAIRMAN KARZAI: Thank you very much.
THE PRESIDENT: I also want to welcome the ministers of the Interim
Authority who have accompanied him to Washington. Chairman Karzai is a
determined leader, and his government reflects the hopes of all
Afghans for a new and better future; a future free from terror, free
from war, and free from want.
The United States strongly supports Chairman Karzai's interim
government. And we strongly support the Bonn agreement that provides
the Afghan people with a path towards a broadly-based government that
protects the human rights of all its citizens.
The Afghan people have already taken the first steps along this path
by committing to rid their country of al Qaeda terrorists, and
remnants of the Taliban regime who supported the terrorists. Yet, even
as the war against terrorism continues, the world has also begun to
help the Afghan people win the peace they deserve.
The United States is committed to building a lasting partnership with
Afghanistan. We'll help the new Afghan government provide the security
that is the foundation for peace. Today, peacekeepers from around the
world are helping provide security on the streets of Kabul. The United
States will continue to work closely with these forces and provide
support for their mission. We will also support programs to train new
police officers, and to help establish and train an Afghanistan
national military.
The United States is also committed to playing a leading role in the
reconstruction of Afghanistan. Today, I announce the United States
Overseas Private Investment Corporation will provide an additional
$50-million line of credit for Afghanistan to finance private-sector
projects. This announcement builds on the United States' pledge in
Tokyo earlier this month to provide $297 million this year to create
jobs and to start rebuilding Afghanistan's agricultural sector, its
health care system, and its educational system. Yet these efforts are
only the beginning.
Two days ago, for the first time since 1979, an American flag was
raised over the U.S. Agency for International Development's mission in
Kabul. That flag will not be lowered. It will wave long into the
future, a symbol of America's enduring commitment to Afghanistan's
future.
Chairman Karzai, I reaffirm to you today that the United States will
continue to be a friend to the Afghan people in all the challenges
that lie ahead. Welcome to Washington.
CHAIRMAN KARZAI: Thank you very much.
Well, thank you very much, Mr. President. Although we are here, as I
mentioned in my meeting with you, invited by you, for which we are
very grateful, but we are also here in a way to thank you and the
American people for the great help that we were given to liberate our
country once again -- this time from terrorism from the Taliban. The
Afghan people recognize this help. They know that, without this help,
we would have still probably been under that rule. So thank you very
much to you and, through you, to the American people.
Afghanistan is a good partner. It will stay a good partner. And I'm
sure that the future of the two countries will be good and a wonderful
relationship should be expected to come in the future. Thank you very
much for the help that you gave us during the Turkey conference, and
thank you for organizing that, as well, together with other
co-organizers, and thank you for the help that you announced today.
Afghanistan does need help in reconstruction. Afghanistan does need
help in the rebuilding of its national army. And thank you very much
for doing that, too.
I assure you, Mr. President, that Afghanistan, with your help and the
help of other countries, friends, will be strong and will stand
eventually on its own feet, and it will be a country that will defend
its borders and not allow terrorism to return to it, or bother it, or
trouble it. We'll be self-reliant. We'll do good in business. We'll be
a strong country.
Afghanistan knows, Mr. President, the suffering of those people in
America that saw and went through the horrors of the Twin Tower
incident, the terrorism there. I believe the Afghans are the best
people to see the pain exactly the way it was felt there then, at the
time, because the Afghans have suffered exactly in the same way. We
have sympathy, we know that pain, we understand it. Our families know
that pain.
Therefore, this joint struggle against terrorism should go to the
absolute end of it. We must finish them. We must bring them out of
their caves and their hideouts, and we promise we'll do that.
Thank you very much, again, for having us here. It was an honor and we
enjoy our trip to the U.S, myself and my colleagues. Thank you very
much.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
We'll answer a couple of questions. Steve, Sonya.
Q: On the issue of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, what's wrong with
formally applying the Geneva Convention to them?
THE PRESIDENT: I have -- the question is about the detainees in
Guantanamo Bay. I had a very interesting meeting this morning with my
national security team. We're discussing all the legal ramifications
of how we -- what we -- how we characterize the actions at Guantanamo
Bay. A couple of things we agree on. One, they will not be treated as
prisoners of war. They're illegal combatants. Secondly, they will be
treated humanely.
And then, I'll figure out -- I'll listen to all the legalisms and
announce my decision when I make it. But we're in total agreement on
how to -- on whether or not -- on how these prisoners -- or detainees,
excuse me, ought to be treated. And they'll be treated well.
And yesterday, the Secretary of Defense went down to Guantanamo Bay
with United States senators from both political parties. The senators
got to see the circumstances in which these detainees were being held.
They -- I don't want to put words in their mouth, but according to the
Secretary of Defense -- I'll let him puts words in their mouth -- they
felt like, one, that our troops were really valiant in their efforts
to make sure that these killers -- these are killers -- were held in
such a way that they were safe. I noticed one of our troops last night
was commenting that they are receiving very good medical care. But
I'll make my decision about -- on how to legally interpret the
situation here pretty soon.
Sonya.
Q: Sir, are you prepared to go to court with the General Accounting
Office to keep secret the records of your energy task force meetings?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, the question about the General Accounting Office
is this: Should an administration be allowed to have private
conversations in this office without everybody knowing about it. This
is part of how you make decisions, is to call people in and say,
what's your opinion. What's your opinion on stem cell? What's your
opinion on energy? What's your opinion on the war?
And in order for me to be able to get good, sound opinions, those who
offer me opinions or offer the Vice President opinions must know that
every word they say is not going to be put into the public record. And
so I view the GAO like the Vice President does. It's an encroachment
on the Executive Branch's ability to conduct business.
Now, as far as the specific case of the Energy Report goes, there is
an energy report that is now in the public arena. People are free to
read it. I hope they do, because it's a comprehensive report, one
based upon the opinions of members of the exploration sector of the
energy business; some about the infrastructure, opinions from those
involved with the infrastructure; some opinions obviously from those
in the environmental community. This is a report that collected a lot
of opinions. And it was done in such a way that people felt free to
come in and express their opinion.
And so, to answer your question, we're not going to let the ability
for us to discuss matters between ourselves to become eroded. It's not
only important for us, for this administration, it is an important
principle for future administrations.
Gregory.
Q: Mr. President, on the Middle East --
THE PRESIDENT: Medium-size Stretch. (Laughter.)
Q: When you spoke to President Mubarak today and expressed your
disappointment in Yasser Arafat, what did he say? And secondly, are
you worried that the level of disappointment in the region is not as
high as your own? Does that complicate your efforts to build a
coalition against Arafat that's necessary?
THE PRESIDENT: I think members -- I think -- first of all, Mr. Mubarak
can characterize the conversation the way he sees fit. I will just
tell you what I told him. And I told him that in order for there to be
peace in the Middle East, we must rout out terror, wherever it exists.
And the U.S. effort to rout out terror around the world is going to
benefit the Middle East in the long-term.
It is important for Mr. Arafat to not only renounce terror, but to
arrest those who would terrorize people trying to bring peace. There
are people in the region that want there to be a peaceful settlement,
and yet, obviously, terrorists are trying to prevent that from
happening by wanton murder. And Mr. Arafat must join the effort to
arrest them.
And when the ship showed up with weapons, obviously aimed at
terrorizing that part of the world, I expressed my severe
disappointment because I was led to believe that he was willing to
join us in the fight on terror. I took him for his word when he -- at
Oslo. And so I made this very clear to my friend, Hosni Mubarak, that
ridding the Middle East of terror is going to make it more likely that
there be peace and stability in the region.
Q: Mr. President, going to the issue of the GAO lawsuit --
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q: -- some in Congress, particularly Congressman Waxman, suggested
that the Energy Report represented a wish list for Enron.
THE PRESIDENT: The Energy Report represented a wish -- in other words,
we were doing favors for Enron?
Q: That's his representation. Do you agree with that, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, Enron went bust. Shortly after the report was put
out, Enron went broke. And it went broke because, it seems like to me
-- and we'll wait for the facts to come out -- it went broke because
there was not full disclosure of finances. This is a -- what we're
talking about here is a corporate governance issue. This is a business
problem that our country must deal with and must fix. That is, full
disclosure of liabilities, full understanding of the effects of
decisions on pension funds, reform of a pension system, perhaps.
There are some on Capitol Hill who want to politicize this issue. This
is not a political issue. It is a business issue that this nation must
deal with. And, you know, Enron had made contributions to a lot of
people around Washington, D.C. And if they came to this administration
looking for help, they didn't find any.
Now, obviously, we're interested in people's opinions about energy --
those in the energy business, those in the conservation world, those
who know how to develop infrastructure. And so we solicited a lot of
opinions from people. And the report is now public; everybody can read
it to determine our vision about how to make our country less
dependent on foreign sources of crude oil, which we must do.
Yes, Jim.
Q: Mr. President, we understand that you do now want to commit
American troops to peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan. Why not, sir?
And do you have any concerns that there will be enough forces to give
Mr. Karzai the kind of security he needs?
THE PRESIDENT: We are committing help to the ISIF in the form of
logistical help, in the form of kind of a bailout -- if the troops get
in trouble, we stand ready to help; in the form of intelligence. Plus,
I have just made in my remarks here a significant change of policy,
and that is that we're going to help Afghanistan develop her own
military. That is the most important part of this visit, it seems like
to me, besides the fact of welcoming a man who stands for freedom, a
man who stood for freedom in the face of tyranny.
We have made a decision -- both of us have made the decision that
Afghanistan must, as quickly as possible, develop her own military.
And we will help. We'll help train, and Tommy Franks, our general,
fully understands this and is fully committed to this idea. So, better
yet than peacekeepers -- which will be there for a while, with our
help -- let's have Afghanistan have her own military.
Major.
Q: Mr. President, along the issue of politicizing Enron, the Majority
Leader, Tom Daschle, with whom you in the past have said you have a
good working relationship, said over the weekend that he was afraid
your budget would Enron-ize Social Security and Medicare. That is to
say, put them in specific jeopardy of collapsing. I wonder if you
could comment on that, sir, and if there's any way to make this --
THE PRESIDENT: Well, sometimes there's political hyperbole here in
this town. The budget I submitted is one -- will submit soon -- is one
that says that the war on terror is going on and we're going to win,
and we've got to make sure we spend enough money to win. It's also one
that prioritizes homeland security. It is also one that wants to do
something about our economy, let's get a stimulus bill. It's a bill
that sets priorities.
And it is -- I think there are some still upset with the tax cut. But
I want to remind you that we were in recession in March of last year.
That's when they officially declared recession. The slowdown was
obviously significant to reach a point where we were -- where the
economists said we were in recession. And so the tax cuts came at the
right time.
Now, there are some who believe if you raise taxes it makes the
economy stronger. As I've told the American people several times, I
don't understand what textbook they're reading. I believe by reducing
taxes it makes the economy stronger. The tax relief came right at the
right time. Now, our economy is still not as strong as it should be.
There's still some weakness. But surely people aren't suggesting
raising taxes at this point makes sense. I don't believe it does make
any sense.
And so the budget I've submitted is a good, strong budget. It sets
priorities and it's realistic, and the American people will understand
it when I explain it tomorrow night.
Q: Mr. President, in holding the detainees in Cuba in the manner in
which the United States is, is one of the signals you're sending that,
in this new kind of war, as you've described it, the Geneva
Conventions are outdated and don't apply in the conflict with al
Qaeda?
THE PRESIDENT: No, the Geneva Conventions are not outdated, and it's a
very important principle. First of all, Terry, we are adhering to the
spirit of the Geneva Convention. When you say you're holding the
prisoners in the manner you are -- we're giving them medical care,
they're being well-treated.
There is no allegation -- well, there may be an allegation -- there's
no evidence that we're treating them outside the spirit of the Geneva
Convention. And for those who say we are, they just don't know what
they're talking about.
And so --
Q: Mr. President --
THE PRESIDENT: Let me finish. And so I am looking at the legalities
involved with the Geneva Convention. In either case, however I make my
decision, these detainees will be well-treated. We are not going to
call them prisoners of war, in either case. And the reason why is al
Qaeda is not a known military. These are killers. These are
terrorists. They know no countries. And the only thing they know about
countries is when they find a country that's been weak and they want
to occupy it like a parasite. And that's why we're so pleased to join
with Chairman Karzai to rout them out.
And so the prisoners, detainees, will be well-treated. They just won't
be afforded prisoner of war status. I'll decide beyond that whether or
not they can be noncombatants under the Geneva Convention, or not.
I'll make that legal decision soon. But this administration has made
the decision they'll be well-treated. Long before they arrived at
Guantanamo Bay did we make that decision.
Plante.
Q: Mr. President, the Saudi Interior Minister today said that a
majority of those being held at Guantanamo, more than 100, are Saudi
citizens, and asked that they be returned to Saudi Arabia for
questioning.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I appreciate his request. And we will, of course
-- we'll take it under consideration. There are a lot of detainees
around the world as a result of this first phase in the war against
terror. There's a lot in Pakistan, there's a lot in Afghanistan, and
there are 179, I believe, or whatever the number is, in Guantanamo
Bay. So there's a lot Saudi citizens that chose to fight for al Qaeda,
and/or the Taliban, that we want to know more about. And so we'll make
a decision on a case-by-case basis as to whether they go back to Saudi
Arabia, or not. I appreciate his suggestion.
Listen, I want to thank you all very much. Mr. Chairman, it's good to
have you --
Q: May I ask Chairman Karzai a question?
THE PRESIDENT: Ask who?
Q: May I ask Chairman Karzai something about --
THE PRESIDENT: Of course you can ask Chairman Karzai a question. Thank
you.
Q: Mr. President, I have a question --
THE PRESIDENT: No, I'm sorry.
Q: Chairman Karzai, given Afghanistan's history of fighting foreign
invaders, and its pride and independence, are you concerned about any
political sensitivity -- in establishing an Afghan military? And how
would you describe the ideal partnership between the United States?
CHAIRMAN KARZAI: Well, we have no concerns there. As I mentioned in my
remarks earlier, the Afghans are grateful that we were helped twice,
once during the Soviet occupation by the U.S., and now to fight
terrorism and liberate ourselves from that menace. We are a fiercely
independent country, and the world knows that. Our neighbors know that
very well, and the countries in the region know that.
The Afghan request for training of our army is nothing new. Our prime
ministers were here even back in the 1950s to ask this kind of
training. And it's training and a relationship between two
independent, sovereign countries, and nothing to worry others.
Q: Chairman Karzai, have you discussed in regards with Osama bin Laden
and what can you do to gather more information to capture him?
CHAIRMAN KARZAI: We are looking for him. He's a fugitive. If we find
him, we'll catch him.
Thank you very much.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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