Afghanistan: U.S. Secretary Of State Reaffirms U.S. Commitment

Rice (left) with President Karzai in Kabul today (RFE/RL)

KABUL, June 28, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Following her meeting today in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke with RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan about security concerns along the Afghan-Pakistani border. Rice also stressed the strength of the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan's future.

RFE/RL: The main topic in the media these days is that the Afghans, in general, and President Hamid Karzai, in particular, complain that the roots of terrorism are outside of Afghanistan, that unless you fight them outside the country, it is not going to give a result just by fighting them inside the country. As he has said yesterday clearly, going house to house in Kandahar will not give any result. So he was saying that we are asking the international community to help us in fighting the roots of terrorism outside the country, but we are not getting that cooperation. Now, keeping in view that Pakistan is a strategic ally of the United States on the one hand and, on the other hand, U.S. forces are in Afghanistan and clearly terrorists are crossing the border and killing the American troops and Afghan troops and affecting your mission here in Afghanistan. How is the United States going to deal with this situation?

Condoleezza Rice: Well, of course, we have to fight terrorists wherever we find them. There are terrorists in Afghanistan. There are terrorists in Pakistan. There are terrorists in the far reaches of the world. But what we have learned about this Al-Qaeda network -- and, indeed, their connections to the Taliban -- is that they have a kind of global reach and that is why we are fighting them in so many different places. Now Pakistan is fighting them. They have been fighting in Waziristan with Pakistani forces. The Pakistanis have moved 10,000 more forces to the border. It is a long border; it's a difficult border.

But, of course, we believe that everybody needs to do more and we need to continue to adapt our tactics as the enemy changes. But I had very good discussions with President Karzai today, and I think we agree that we have a good common strategy. The International Security Assistance Force and the NATO forces that are moving into the south, as well as the American forces, which are going to stay in Afghanistan and remain committed to Afghanistan, are really engaging the enemy and having very great success against them. We always knew that the Taliban would be determined to try to continue to bring death and destruction to Afghanistan, just as it did when it was governing, ruling in Afghanistan.

But they are not going to succeed. Afghan security forces are getting stronger; the police force is getting stronger. The president talked to me about the need to accelerate the building of the Afghan police forces. So we have many tools that we can use. We -- Afghanistan, Pakistan, all the other allies in the war on terrorism -- have a lot in common here, which is we have a common enemy and we have to do everything we can to defeat that enemy.

RFE/RL: There is one thing that Afghans always complain about. They say that they do not trust when the Pakistani government says that they are fighting terrorists. There are madrassahs in Quetta, open religious schools, hundreds of students are there, and they are getting training. These students are sent -- not ordinary people. How can you solve this misunderstanding?

Rice: Let's remember, these are difficult borders. In some places they are mountainous borders; in some places they are very long borders. And how to stop people from crossing the border is a long-time problem in this region. Now, we are indeed sharing information. We have a trilateral mechanism between Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the United States that is sharing information and sharing how to solve this problem.

Condoleezza Rice (RFE/RL file photo)

RFE/RL: During your visit to Pakistan yesterday, media quoted you as calling on Pakistani officials to work better with the Afghan government. Does the word "better" mean that you spoke more strongly with them this time?

Rice: Well, "better" is something I would say to the Afghan government, the Pakistani government, and, indeed,to the U.S. government. We all need to do better because, to the degree that there is still insecurity in the country, to the degree that the Afghan people are not enjoying the benefits of security, we all need to take a look at what we are doing and to do better. That is what I meant. I think that we are all committed.

What the Afghan people need to know is that America is committed to Aghanistan's future and will be committed. We are not leaving. We are not leaving again, as we did in the 1980s. This time, our strategic relationship is strong and it is going to be a long-term relationship.

Rice: The American people are committed to Afghanistan. You have to remember that America suffered on 9/11 because we had not stayed committed to Afghanistan. So, I think you can count on the commitment of the American people, whoever is in office.