[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
[September 12, 2002]
[Page 1577]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1577]]


Remarks Prior to Discussions With President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan in New York City
September 12, 2002

    President Bush. Mr. President, it's great to see you again. Thank 
you for your leadership.
    Our Government believes you're doing a really fine job of setting a 
vision for the Afghan people and leading towards that vision, that you 
love freedom and that you are working hard to make your country more 
secure. And we appreciate your leadership. We also appreciate your 
understanding that jobs are important for your country. And today I had 
the honor of informing President Karzai that the United States, along 
with Saudi Arabia and Japan, will be providing $180 million for road 
improvement projects in Afghanistan. We'll help develop a modern 
infrastructure so that the Afghan entrepreneur will be able to move 
product from one city to the next and so that people will be able to 
find work; people will be able to put food on the table.
    Our commitment to a stable and free and peaceful Afghanistan is a 
long-term commitment, Mr. President, and we're confident in your 
leadership. And I want to thank you again. It's good to see you again.
    President Hamid Karzai. Thank you. Good to see you.
    Well, Mr. President, I'm very happy to be meeting with you again, 
after the meeting in January. We are, as before, very, very grateful for 
the help the United States of America gave to Afghanistan to liberate 
itself from the scourge, from the occupation of terrorism that murdered 
and killed and destroyed our country for so many years, that brought 
about the disaster in New York and your own country. The Afghan people 
continue to share that pain with you. And I came here earlier than the 
General Assembly to participate, to mourn that date. And we've had a 
commemoration of that in Kabul as well, yesterday.
    The Afghan people know the help that you have given to us, and the 
Afghan people will know the announcement that you've just made. They'll 
be very happy. Mr. President, I assure you that you will find the Afghan 
people as your very best partners in the fight against terrorism. And as 
your very best partners wherever you bring justice in this part of the 
world, we'll be with you.
    The Afghan people, as you rightly say, would like to have some bread 
on their table, and they would also like to, in some time, to make that 
bread themselves, to earn it themselves. So the help that you are giving 
us to have our highways, to have other infrastructure correct in the 
country is a step in the right direction towards self-reliance in 
Afghanistan. And I must thank you very much once again.
    President Bush. Thank you, sir.

Note: The President spoke at 12:13 p.m. at the U.S. Mission at the 
United Nations Headquarters. The Office of the Press Secretary also 
released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.