27 February 2003
Bush Receives Afghan President Karzai at White House
(He also responds to questions about Iraq, Mideast, economy) (1310)
President Bush has praised visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai as a
courageous leader with a clear vision who has achieved "tremendous
progress" for his country in the past year.
Speaking to reporters at the White House February 27 after their
talks, Bush noted that under Karzai's leadership more than two million
refugees have returned to Afghanistan and three million children have
started going to school.
Karzai expressed the gratitude of his country for U.S. help in
rebuilding Afghanistan, including road construction and training the
Afghan national army. The Afghan leader expressed the determination of
his country to continue the war against terrorism.
Fielding questions from reporters, Bush drew a distinction between the
1991 Gulf War against Iraq and the current situation. The mission of
the 1991 war was the liberation of Kuwait, Bush said, different from
the current mission -- the disarmament of the Iraqi regime of Saddam
Hussein.
"The only question at hand is total, complete disarmament, which he is
refusing to do," Bush said.
The president also expressed his "fervent desire" to achieve peace
between Israelis and Palestinians.
Responding to a question about the U.S. economy, Bush said he has
confidence in the future of the economy. He said the stimulus package
he has proposed to Congress contains multiple economic benefits.
Following is the transcript of the remarks of Bush and Karzai:
(begin transcript)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
February 27, 2003
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BUSH AND PRESIDENT KARZAI OF AFGHANISTAN IN PHOTO
OPPORTUNITY
The Oval Office
11:51 A.M. EST
PRESIDENT BUSH: A couple of opening statements; we'll answer questions
today.
Mr. President, welcome back to the Oval Office.
The President has just brought me and members of my administration up
to date on the progress being made in Afghanistan. I guess the best
way to summarize the discussion is that I'm welcoming a courageous
leader, who's got a clear vision about the future of a country he
loves, back to the Oval Office.
I was deeply impressed by some of the statistics that he talked about.
Over 2 million refugees have returned back to Afghanistan since he was
last here in the Oval Office. As the President pointed out, those are
people who are expressing their opinion about the future of
Afghanistan by making a decision to return home.
He also told me that there are now 3 million children going to school
in Afghanistan. Right after and during the period of the Taliban and
right after the war, the number of children going to school was
negligible.
This is tremendous progress, and I want the American people to know
that we're proud of the progress which is being made. I want to
continue to thank the American people for their support of the -- of
Afghanistan and our desire for the -- human life to improve there.
And, Mr. President, we appreciate your leadership, your determination.
And we continue to look forward to working with you to bring not only
peace to that part of the world, but a hopeful future for the
citizens. So welcome back to the Oval Office.
PRESIDENT KARZAI: Well, thank you very much, Mr. President. It's an
honor for me to be here with you in the White House. The United States
and yourself have helped tremendously in the past year to rebuild
Afghanistan, to help us in all aspects of life, including the 3
million children that now go to school have been receiving help from
the United States. You have helped us with the roads, with the
building of the National Army of Afghanistan. I'm here to thank you
and the American people. And I'm also here to ask you to do more for
us in making the life of the Afghan people better, more stable, more
peaceful. I'm also here to tell you that the war against terrorism is
going on. We have defeated them, but some elements are still there.
And we should go on strong and tough to get them all and free the
world from that menace.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, sir.
Ron.
Q: Mr. President, following up on your speech last night, if the
United States had expanded its mission beyond the liberation of Kuwait
and removed Saddam Hussein from power in the 1990s, would the Middle
East be more peaceful now?
PRESIDENT BUSH: The mission in early 1990s was to liberate Kuwait, and
the United States achieved that mission. The mission now is to disarm
Saddam Hussein, in the name of peace. And we will disarm Saddam
Hussein.
I noticed today there is some talk about the illegal rockets in Iraq.
He
-- this is part of his -- the discussion about these rockets is part
of his campaign of deception. See, he'll say, I'm not going to destroy
the rockets, and then he'll have a change of mind this weekend and
destroy the rockets, and say, I've disarmed. The rockets are just the
tip of the iceberg. The only question at hand is total, complete
disarmament, which he is refusing to do.
Steve.
Q: If I could just follow up, though, on your rationale from
yesterday. If we could have peace in the Middle East by removing
Saddam now, couldn't we have had it if we had removed him 10 years
ago? Or is that a --
PRESIDENT BUSH: The mission -- just remember what the mission was.
When you commit troops to war, you must have a clear mission. Should
we be forced to commit our troops because of his failure to disarm,
the mission will be complete disarmament, which will mean regime
change. That was not the mission in 1991.
Q: You talked last night about the Middle East road map. What's
holding that up? When can we see that?
PRESIDENT BUSH: We have been working on the Middle East every day. We
will continue to work to bring peace to the Middle East. And my
fervent desire is for the -- is to achieve peace, and to improve the
plight of the Palestinian citizen and, at the same time, improve the
security for not only the Palestinians, but the Israelis. We work the
peace issue constantly.
Q: Mr. President, consumer confidence numbers hit their lowest levels
in, I think, nine years yesterday. And many of those surveyed say that
they're more concerned about the economy than they are about Iraq.
Money managers on Wall Street say that even when the uncertainty over
what is happening in Iraq is resolved, there remain many obstacles of
a purely business nature that leave them less than confident looking
forward. Are you frustrated by the sense that perhaps perception could
become reality here, that the lack of confidence seems to be becoming
more entrenched?
PRESIDENT BUSH: I've got confidence in the future of our economy.
There's strong signals that this economy will improve. But I
understand we need to have a stimulus package to make sure that the
forecasts and the predictions become true. A lot of the experts are
projecting growth at 3.3 percent. Inherent in their projections is
that Congress pass a stimulus package, fiscal stimulus package. I
proposed the one that I think will work.
And so that is one of the reasons why you're seeing this
administration on a regular basis pursue a stimulus package that will
have a positive effect for job creation, a stimulus package directed
to small business owners in America, a stimulus package which will
encourage investment, a stimulus package which will ultimately help
seniors because their dividends might be taxed twice. So this is a
stimulus package that is very positive.
But I'm very optimistic about the future of this country
-- the economic future, and I'm optimistic about our chances to
achieve peace.
Thank you all.
END 11:50 A.M. EST
(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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