17 September 2004
U.S. Envoy to Kabul Predicts Successful Election in Afghanistan
Khalilzad says preparations in place to thwart expected terrorist disruptions
U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad says he expects a successful outcome to the October 9 presidential election in Afghanistan despite efforts by terrorists to disrupt it.
"[A]s we get closer to the election itself, I anticipate similarly increased effort by the Taliban, al-Qaida and the Hizb-i-Islami Hekmatyar to make an effort to derail the election. And while I anticipate increased attacks, I believe that elections are going to go forward and they will be held, and for the first time in their several thousand years long history, Afghans will choose their president, their leader, in a broad process through direct voting using secret ballots," Khalilzad said, briefing reporters at the State Department in Washington September 17.
Khalilzad said more than 10 million Afghans, 41 percent of them women, have registered to vote, and the forces of the Afghan government, NATO and the United Nations are deploying to provide security on election day.
Khalilzad said the groups trying to disrupt the election -- al-Qaida, the Taliban, a Taliban breakaway group called Jaish-e-Muslamin, and the Hizb-i-Islami Hekmatyar -- are mostly active along Afghanistan's border with Pakistan. Pakistan is cooperating with Afghanistan and the multinational forces to control them, the ambassador said.
Khalilzad said on the political front, the Afghan government has made great progress in recent months in extending its authority into the provinces. Regarding reconstruction, he said much has been achieved in the last ten months as a result of an accelerated reconstruction strategy.
To deal with security threats, he said the approach has been to keep pressure on the terrorists by strengthening the Afghan security forces and relying on Pakistan to pressure them from the other side of the border. The Hekmatyar group and al-Qaida are growing weaker, but the Taliban is gaining strength, Khalilzad said.
"[W]ith regard to Taliban, I think there is, I have to say that there may have been some growth in the numbers of their people that are active. There has been some effort, obviously, at recruitment, increased effort at recruitment in the refugee camps and in madrasas. And they may be getting more resources, in part from drugs," he said.
The ambassador said Afghanistan has made a lot of progress, but it has a long way to go.
"[T]he journey of getting Afghanistan to stand on its own feet is a ten-mile journey; we are about to finish mile three," he said.
He said the United States will not make the mistake of abandoning Afghanistan again, as it did in the 1990's after the collapse of the former Soviet Union.
"[W]e have learned from our mistake. We will not do that again. And that Afghanistan's success is our success, and Afghanistan's failure, God forbid, will be our failure, and that the United States will be there for as long as it takes to do the job," the ambassador said.
Following is the transcript of Khalilzad's press conference:
(begin transcript)
ON-THE-RECORD BRIEFING WITH U.S. AMBASSADOR TO AFGHANISTAN ZALMAY KHALILZAD
recent developments in Afghanistan, including preparations for Afghanistan's October 9 presidential elections and security in western Afghanistan
September 17, 2004 Washington, D.C.
(9:30 a.m. EDT)
MR. CASEY: Good morning, everyone, on what is turning out to be a pretty busy Friday for us. I want to be able to turn things over quickly, so I just want to remind you again this is an on-the-record briefing and we're very pleased to have Ambassador Khalilzad here with us, in from Kabul today. A lot happening in Afghanistan and certainly a lot going on in preparation for the elections in October, and I would like to give him an opportunity to make a couple of quick opening remarks and then we'll get to your questions.
Mr. Ambassador.
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Thank you very much. Well, thank you all for coming. I want to make a couple of points, first that preparations for elections are going very well. As you know, the registration for people of Afghanistan to vote internally has been completed. Over 10 million people have registered, 41 percent of them women. Despite of the efforts by the Taliban and others to derail the process, every time there was an attack the result was to reinforce the resolve of the people to participate and to register. That was very heartening for those of us who are there to help the people of Afghanistan stand on their own feet.
Now, I think, as we get closer to the election itself, I anticipate similarly increased effort by the Taliban, al-Qaida and the Hizb-i-Islami Hekmatyar to make an effort to derail the election. And while I anticipate increased attacks, I believe that elections are going to go forward and they will be held, and for the first time in their several thousand years long history, Afghans will choose their president, their leader, in a broad process through direct voting using secret ballots.
So this is, on the political track, the fulfillment of the Bonn process which started with an interim authority, went to a transitional government, now going to, after deciding on a very enlightened constitution, based on that constitution, holding presidential elections this October.
Similarly, on the political track, I think Afghanistan has made a lot of progress in the course of the last several months to extend the authority of the central government to various regions of Afghanistan. The most important recent development, as you all know, is the change in Herat, where now you have about a thousand Afghan National Army forces, police forces from the central government, helping the newly appointed governor.
Ismail Khan is still in Herat, as you know, and I've talked with him as late as yesterday and he continues to say that he will cooperate with the new governor. It is a sign of a new Afghanistan where, you know, you can be an ex-governor and, you know, live a very respectable life; in fact, he's enjoying being an ex-governor, rather than being responsible for what goes on in Herat in a direct way.
On reconstruction, we have had an accelerated strategy for reconstruction since I've been there over the course of the past ten months. A lot has been achieved. I'm not going to go through all of that. I think we have a sheet that describes that.
On the security front, we're still facing the threat from the Taliban and HIG and al-Qaida. Our approach has been to keep the pressure on them, go after the remnants of the terrorists in Afghanistan along the border, see Pakistani cooperation, increase Pakistani cooperation to pressure the terrorists from the other side of the border, and build Afghan national institutions, the Afghan National Army, which has reached now more than 14,000 large, police forces, which we've got about 25,000 trained police forces; and, at the same time, downsize and ultimately eliminate the militia forces.
The DDR process, as it's called, is making progress. It has been a little slower than the government had planned for it, but this is a very difficult issue but, at the same time, very important issue. It must happen. It will happen. Some, I think, 15,000 have been DDR'd, are the DDR process out of about 50,000 total perhaps.
QUESTION: What is DDR?
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Demobilization, Decommissioning and Reintegration of militia forces. And by June of next year, there should be no more militia forces organized in Afghanistan. That's the government plan.
At the same time, heavy weapons are being cantoned. Kabul, for the first time in a long time, all heavy weapons have been cantoned in Kabul and by election time all active heavy weapons should be cantoned throughout the country. There will be some heavy weapons that are not usable. It will take a while. We'll have to bring all sorts of trucks and so forth to transport them.
Afghanistan is making progress, but it's got a long way to go. I say that, you know, the journey of getting Afghanistan to stand on its own feet is a ten-mile journey; we are about to finish mile three. So we have a long way to go still, but considerable progress has been made.
I think the people who work there, since I represent them, Americans there, we feel very strongly that we've got, of course, from an American perspective, a vital mission. What happens there helps with the security of the American people. But we also feel that it's a noble mission since, in the process, we are helping the Afghan people who have suffered for so long -- some, you know, 25 years of war, a lot of displaced people internally, refugees externally.
And as a sign that Afghanistan is progressing is the number of people who are coming back. It's now some 3.5 million refugees who have come back, the largest return of refugees in history in such a short period of time. So it's a very positive development but, as I said before, there are, of course, problems and we anticipate more security problems, attacks from the people who want to oppose us, oppose the success of Afghanistan. This is a monumental struggle that's going on. What happens in Afghanistan is not only important for Afghanistan but for the wider region.
I think both us and our opponents know what's at stake there, and therefore, I anticipate intensified effort by them to derail the process, but I am confident that Afghans will not be deterred, elections will take place as scheduled.
Thank you very much.
QUESTION: Isn't it discouraging that President Karzai does not seem to be able to campaign or move about outside the capital? As I understand the news reports, you know, he tried yesterday, I believe, and he had to return because a missile was fired at his plane.
QUESTION: Helicopter.
QUESTION: Or, I'm sorry. Helicopter.
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Right.
QUESTION: And is that true, that he has not been able to campaign outside the capital, and isn't that discouraging, if so?
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Well, in fact, he has traveled and he will be traveling. He went to Gardez yesterday and there was a rocket attack. We think it's likely to have been an RPG fired towards the helicopter. That incident is being investigated. The security people made the decision that it's best to take him back to Kabul. He was very unhappy about that. I did speak with him. He would have liked to have continued with his program -- understandable -- but that decision was made by his security detail.
He is planning to go back to Gardez and to other places before election and has an active travel schedule for the remaining time before now and elections.
As I said before, there are people, especially along the border of Pakistan, where there are remnants of Taliban and HIG and al-Qaida who are active there and that they do not want this election to take place. But, again, my judgment is that he will travel around the country and he will campaign and elections -- elections will be held.
QUESTION: Ambassador --
MR. CASEY: We'll go to (inaudible) first.
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Oh, are you going to --
MR. CASEY: Or I'm happy to have you do it.
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Please. No, no. We both shouldn't do it.
QUESTION: Two quick, simple things. Do you really expect Ismail Khan to go gently into the night, happy to be relieved of his responsibilities as governor? Or do you think maybe he's biding his time and will try to return to power in some way?
And secondly, you talked about how more than 10 million people have been registered internally. There's been a lot of reporting about multiple -- about individual people making multiple registrations. Do you have any confidence that those are actually 10 million unique people or do you think that there's a significant proportion that has done double, triple, and therefore doesn't that call into question the ultimate result of the election if it's held there?
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: On the first one, of course, what Ismail Khan will ultimately do is up to him. My judgment is that the change in Herat is a permanent change, meaning Ismail Khan will not be governor of Herat again unless the government in Kabul decides to reappoint him as governor.
He has served Afghanistan for a very long period of time in the fight against the Soviet occupation and then in the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida. He deserves a position of respect, but that's a decision that has to be made based on the Afghan constitution, which grants the authority for appointing governors to the president and the central government.
He is interested, has expressed in the past interest in coming to Kabul to become a cabinet member. That's still a possibility for him. He would have liked to have made the move after the presidential election, but considering the pros and cons of moving now versus moving after the presidential election, the government at the center decided to move now. He was disappointed with that decision, it's clear, but there is no reason why, after elections, he could not take a job in Kabul and come and serve there or stay outside the government. He told me yesterday that, in fact, he's thinking more and more that it's better to be outside government than be in government. I can certainly appreciate that, having been in and out of government several times myself. (Laughter.)
So it's -- I don't believe that he would risk all that he has done for Afghanistan by going outside the legal framework to challenge the situation, I think the constitution is clear and he has said that he supports the constitution, he supports the decision of the government, that he will cooperate. And as you know, he went on television asking the people of Herat to cooperate with the new governor and not to threaten the security of Herat.
One your second question, which --
QUESTION: The 10 million people.
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Multiple -- yeah. There has been some multiple registration. The estimates I've seen is maybe out of 1.3 or .4 million that have registered, maybe a couple hundred thousand people may have --
QUESTION: 1.3 or 10.6?
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: 10.6? I mean, I thought -- I've seen -- I think it's 10 -- around 10.5 million that have registered and out of that a couple hundred thousand -- I've seen such figures -- that people may have registered twice. And that sometimes, you know, when you have been refugees, as some Afghans have been, they think the more cards you have, the more benefits you get, so some people think, you know, we want to register -- maybe with these election cards you get some benefits other than voting.
But it's not going to have a material impact on the outcome because you can vote only once no matter how many times you've registered. You'll have this indelible ink put on your finger when you register, after you have voted. And from what I have been told and we've done -- I've seen assessments done by our -- inside the government as well as outside. It's not a huge number.
QUESTION: So it's a couple of hundred thousand per million, or for the entire --
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: For the entire country. That's what I have been told.
MR. CASEY: Barbara.
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Barbara? Yeah, hi.
QUESTION: Hi, how are you doing? Nice to see you here.
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Good to see you. Thank you.
QUESTION: What are the main groups that are trying to disrupt the election? Which is -- who do you consider the biggest enemy of the process?
And what part of the country are you most worried about in terms of polling and security?
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Well, the main groups, the leading group, is the Taliban, the remnants of the Taliban and that there's also the Hekmatyar group and there is the new Taliban sort of breakaway faction called the Jaish-e- Muslamin, which is led by a fellow named Agha. I call them a kind of neo-Talib kind of movement. And then, of course, the al-Qaida element.
And they're cooperating with each other. They know that this is a defining event that's taking place, Afghanistan's direction for five years will be set by this election. They will not be participating in this process so they want to disrupt it, undermine it.
I expect that as we go towards election and on election day they will try to disrupt, in particular; the area where they are going to be mostly active is along the border with Pakistan to the south and east. They may also try some spectacular attacks, a la perhaps a Tet offensive kind of thing, go after some -- do some things in some of the towns, including Kabul.
The Afghan Government, the coalition, the ISAF -- they're all ready. We're deploying an additional battalion of U.S. forces to assist with security for elections. NATO/ISAF has deployed two battalions in Afghanistan to also assist in the process.
We have to remember that this is not an election that takes place in Norway or Scandinavia. This election is taking place in Afghanistan, a country that's going through a dramatic transition: a very short time from the rule of Taliban, women could not vote, certainly nobody could vote, could not -- you know what the circumstances were -- to a situation in which, you know, men and women are participating in an election to choose their leader. And the election is part of this transition from a very backward totalitarian and aspiration terrorist-allied state to a kind of more normal country with -- and so elections have to be seen in the context that they're taking place.
And I am, you know, extremely heartened and proud of the reaction of the Afghan people to this opportunity that they have been given, that they have -- you know, people were killed for carrying registration cards. I mean, it sounds probably to some of you, since I've worked for the government, that this sounds a little, you know, kind of "public affairs" or whatever, propaganda, but I genuinely feel it that, you know, it's amazing that you get -- you know, we take so many things for granted here that, you know, just for registering you get killed or your place gets attacked. But rather than slowing things down, people come in larger numbers to register. You know, I genuinely feel that this is where the frontline of freedom is there in Afghanistan right now. You know, there is a real struggle going on between the desire of people for normalcy, which is perfectly understandable, and these folks who see that whatever -- all what they stand for and what they want is being rejected by an overwhelming number of people in the country.
QUESTION: Could I follow on to that question?
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Yes, ma'am. Please.
QUESTION: How do you assess the strength of these various groups? And are they growing? Are they attracting more followers?
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: I think that with regard to HIG and to -- sorry, the Hekmatyar group. I shouldn't be speaking as if I'm talking to my group at the embassy. (Laughter.) So that the Hekmatyar group, I think, there is diminution. It's not growth. I don't see a growth there.
Al-Qaida, similarly, I don't see growth there in their presence. In fact, in Afghanistan I don't see them growing. Although my information is a little dated, but I don't know whether the impact of the Pakistani operation in South Waziristan, whether some more have entered Afghanistan, I'm not giving you kind of the last five days kind of numbers.
But with regard to Taliban, I think there is, I have to say that there may have been some growth in the numbers of their people that are active. There has been some effort, obviously, at recruitment, increased effort at recruitment in the refugee camps and in madrasas. And they may be getting more resources, in part from drugs. You know, the narcotics is a problem in Afghanistan. Everything is not positive there. One trend that's negative is the growth in narcotics business there, and perhaps resources from external sources.
And that's why we are also working very hard to try to get the neighboring countries to cooperate in terms of not allowing sanctuary anywhere for the terrorists, and including the Talibs. So that's an issue that I know that in Kabul we work hard at it, but I'm sure people here in Washington and elsewhere are working at it as well.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) like a neo-Taliban?
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Neo Taliban? Well, I just called this the Jaish-e Muslamin, which is a group that Agha was a member of the Taliban movement. He separated and has formed this new group. My sense is that they believe that the other Talibs, so-called traditional Talibs, are on their way out, so to speak, and so they are presenting themselves as the inheritors of the Taliban movement.
QUESTION: A couple of questions.
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Yes, sir.
QUESTION: In the past, you've said -- you've expressed your reservations about cooperation from Pakistan.
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Right.
QUESTION: What kind of cooperation are you getting from them now?
And the second part is what have the -- has President Karzai's attempts to woo moderate Taliban, how successful has that been?
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Well, with regard to the first one, of course, Pakistan is doing a very good job in terms of the recent moves against al-Qaida in South Waziristan. We are very grateful to them for that. Pakistani life has been lost in the process.
I have said, and I continue to say, we would like to see more Pakistani effort with regard to the Taliban and that there are no good terrorists or good extremists, they're all bad, and that, you know, the al-Qaida is bad, the Taliban are bad -- the one is an international terrorist organization, that's a regional, more regionally focused terrorist organization -- and that we'd like to see more effort.
I'm hoping that President Karzai's visit to Islamabad a couple weeks ago and, as you all know, President Musharraf and President Karzai both will be in New York in the coming days, and that I'm hoping and anticipating there will be opportunities for further dialogue and discussion and, hopefully, progress on the issue of, you know, the Taliban coming into Afghanistan, particularly to disrupt this election.
With regard to progress on the Taliban front by President Karzai, the "moderate Taliban," so-called, there is some progress has been made in a bottom-up approach, so to speak, meaning that some Talibs have gotten in touch -- former Talibs have gotten in touch with the government saying, look, you know, we would like to join the mainstream, accept the Afghanistan constitution, renounce terror and violence, and live peacefully in our areas. Some people have been resettled in some areas.
But as far as kind of a top-down approach of a grand gesture of here are the 100, whatever number, that must face the justice of an Afghan court system and the remainder, assuming they renounce violence, assuming they accept Afghan laws, assuming they have not committed crimes against the Afghan people or against humanity, are not working with al-Qaida, they are not seeking to create a Taliban, whether traditional or neo, that they are -- that they could come and live peacefully in Afghanistan. That is still a process that's evolving and that is maturing. The recipe is there, but it not ready to be served yet.
QUESTION: How confident are you that the results of this election will be accepted across Afghanistan?
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: I think it will be very broadly accepted, because there will be very broad participation already. As I said, registration has been at very high, and I dare say that they will -- more Afghans' percentage of people registered will participate in the election than Americans, or percentage of Americans who can vote actually will participate in the election.
But I anticipate that it will be broadly acceptable. Of course, I don't accept Mullah Omar or UBL or Zawahiri or Hekmatyar, to say, "Well, gee, they voted, we're out, we accept it, we'll turn ourselves in." (Laughter.) But I think it will be, in Afghanistan it's a -- be a new day after this election. It's, I think, broadly acceptable.
QUESTION: Some of the candidates are calling for a one-month delay, and you said several times that it would be on time.
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Right.
QUESTION: Is that --
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: I think it will be on time.
QUESTION: Even with those candidates --
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: I think it's -- from what I've gathered talking to the people responsible for the election, which is there is a Joint Election Management Body, JEMB, and then there is UNAMA, the United Nations agencies that are responsible, working with the Afghans there. They decide, and they are telling me, as of yesterday when I talked with them, that they will take place on time -- schedule.
Yes, ma'am.
QUESTION: Ambassador, as you know, some Afghans and others are worried that once this election is over, not just in this country -- not just in Afghanistan, but in this country, that the United States is going to be looking for a way to get out of Afghanistan. What is the U.S. commitment? What assurances are you giving the Afghan people that U.S. troops will continue to support NATO's efforts there?
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Well, I have instructions from the President that we made a mistake to abandon Afghanistan in the 1990's after the Soviet departure. We worked with the Afghans against the Soviets. We defeated the Soviets. They withdrew. We also left. And we know what happened: civil war, chaos, regional competition, the Taliban, al-Qaida, September 11th. Another change in Afghanistan, another work -- strategic cooperation with Afghans, is our big project.
The Afghans fear abandonment, I have to tell you that. That's their big fear, abandonment. But my instructions are that no, we have learned from our mistake. We will not do that again. And that Afghanistan's success is our success, and Afghanistan's failure, God forbid, will be our failure, and that the United States will be there for as long as it takes to do the job.
The Afghans are looking for a long-term post-conflict strategic partnership with the United States. And if you look at President Karzai's campaign manifesto, he's saying he's going to look to transform the cooperation, the military cooperation now against al-Qaida and Taliban into a longer-term alliance, strategic partnership, and we are receptive to that. We are committed to this war against terror, which is going to take, unfortunately, decades to succeed. And it's not only Afghanistan. It will require a transformation of some of these societies. It will require changing of attitudes. It means us and this region staying together for a very long time as we did during the Cold War. Perhaps this will take even longer than that.
So I anticipate that we are there in Afghanistan for the long-term. The form, the number of troops, the mission, how much, where, what kind of presence will change, depending on the circumstances. But presence there will be, commitment there will be, and I dare say, given what I heard -- I'm not in politics, U.S. politics, but what I heard, I've heard from the Democratic leadership, there isn't any change, big change, or difference. I don't think that this will change that significantly at all, except, of course, then you have some new people there doing things. But that, you know, it's not going to be that different, actual policy-wise.
QUESTION: Do you see a strong link still between Taliban and al-Qaida?
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Yes.
QUESTION: And do you think Mullah Omar is still in the thick of things?
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Well, I believe that there is strong links, and I believe that Mullah Omar is involved. How much in the thick of things he is, of course, we'll want to make sure he's on the run always, but he's active -- he's there, but -- and the relationship is a strong one.
Yes, sir.
QUESTION: Just to come back to Pakistan, can you maybe elaborate a little more on why you keep having the problem you still are with Pakistan? Is it because Musharraf has a legitimate fear of a backlash, or is it more perceived, or is it the ISI is still too much aligned with what it used to be? What's the reason?
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Well, there's a lot going on in Pakistan, of course. Number one, there is the issue of -- with regard to extremism and terror, that al-Qaida is still there. There have been attacks orchestrated by al-Qaida against President Musharraf, and that there -- and in the aftermath of those attacks, we've seen increased Pakistani effort against them.
There's obviously the extremist movements inside Pakistan, some of whom were allied with the Taliban. And there were these madrasas that are still, that are there, and President Musharraf has said that his vision for Pakistan is a moderate Islamic country where extremism is not as strong as it has been at times in the past, and we support that.
With regard to the Taliban, were there in Pakistan and come across into Afghanistan, the question of, you know, is it -- we don't think, at this point, we don't think it's President Musharraf that has sanctioned that. Whether everybody in the government or former government people or movement (inaudible) Taliban are all on message to look -- it's a bad idea to support the Taliban, it's a bad idea to facilitate their activities, and that a stable, democratic moderate Afghanistan is really in Pakistan's interest. (Inaudible), some people who think, look, you know, as you asked that, you know, "Well, the U.S. might leave and then there will be another play for Afghanistan and then we should have some of our own horses to play," I think they -- all these factors may be part of what's going on.
But we anticipate and we work very closely, obviously, with President Musharraf and, as I said, the visit was a good visit that President Karzai had, and we think that, you know, there will be opportunities in New York next week to continue those, to say, look, a successful Afghanistan is good for Pakistan; a successful Pakistan is good for Afghanistan. And that, you know, it's time to kind of shift the thinking a little bit in that region, as happened in Europe after World War II, that look, you know, it took cooperation -- economic, political, security. You can be a lot more prosperous than trying to see opportunities in the weakness of your neighbors, and that's the, sort of, that's the old think.
I know, this region will, as I say, will take a long time to bring them along, but we hope that with success in Afghanistan, we can make progress.
MR. CASEY: Mr. Ambassador, I think we've got time for just one more here, so --
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Sure. All right.
MR. CASEY: Got one down at the end here.
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Sure.
QUESTION: Sir, can I ask about Iran? How do you see Iran's behavior these days? And do you have any contact with the Iranian --
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: With regard to the first question that Iran, it's which Iran? There are not a single Iran -- I've dealt with the Iranian issue for a long time, so it's, unfortunately, the Iranians that seek or do bad things, strengthening -- the Iran that's -- was kind of more pragmatic and worked with us in Bonn and subsequently may be weakening.
Ultimately, of course, I'm a kind of optimist with regard to Iran for the long-term, because of what's happening in the underlying factors in Iran itself.
But currently, there is this struggle between these two forces, and the list -- good one? Is that -- can you say that? (Laughter.) The most troublesome ones are gaining, so that's (inaudible).
With regard to my contact with them, I would rather not comment on that.
QUESTION: Are these troublesome ones backed by the government?
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Oh, sure, they are for the government, absolutely. No, no, I'm -- within the government. I won't talk of Iran (inaudible). Within government, there are some more pragmatic types, the kind of barbarian handlers who we see them sometimes outside. They are, you know, they are there. But there are also -- you have these other guys who are becoming more dominant in the government, you know.
QUESTION: What kind of trouble are they making?
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Well, of course, I don't know whether I can talk about all of it. There, of course, there are some al-Qaida people there, as we know. There are some support for some people that are not part of the -- that are not entirely cooperative with the central government; but -- people involved in the foreign ministry and others that do work with the Afghan Government.
We do not seek -- our goal is, I explain to Afghans, to have a hostile region between Iran and Afghanistan. They are two neighbors. You can't change your geography, although a lot of Afghans would like to, but they're, you know, but they are where they are and would like, I think, those who fear kind of a democratic, moderate Afghanistan tied to the sort of United States are not happy with the progress that Afghanistan is making, and they are maintaining ties and provide some support for guys who are against that.
QUESTION: Could I --
MR. CASEY: I really think we're --
QUESTION: Could I follow up just very quickly? Does the removal of Ismail Kahn have anything to do with Iran's interests in that part of Afghan's (inaudible)?
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: No, no, not at all. What happened was that there was a lot of -- I mean, that region has become more unstable over the course of the past year, and March, as you know, Ismail Khan's son was killed there and there was big fighting in Herat. And then last month, you got attacks in Shindand, as well as in -- attacks from the Ghowr province and from Badghis. And we got involved in order to prevent an attack on the city of Herat. I had to talk directly to some of the commanders threatening the city that that would be unacceptable and that we would respond to that in order to save the city of Herat; it's very beautiful, prosperous city.
And the question was, well, we bought time through our efforts, a ceasefire, separation of forces, that there was a need for a longer term stabilization effort, and the government decided that for that, you needed to change the leaders of some of those provinces and send new people there. And Ismail Khan -- the question was, everybody agreed, including Ismail Khan, about the wisdom of that, but the question was disagreement with timing, and do it now, do it later, and which one was riskier, which one was more beneficial. And at the end, a decision was made to change the governor of Ghowr, the governor of Herat, recall some of the military commanders. And the guy who was attacking from the south, Amanullah, was brought to Kabul.
So there was a comprehensive kind of strategy that was developed and implemented, and I have to say I'm encouraged by the situation there, although the first day after the change, there was violence in Herat, but things have been relatively quiet. And today was Friday, the prayer day, which some were concerned to see whether, you know, the mosques will react and my latest report is that it went -- the situation remained, has remained calm.
QUESTION: Thank you very much, Mr. Ambassador.
AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: Thank you. Thank you very much.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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