[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 38 (Monday, September 25, 2006)]
[Pages 1653-1658]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's News Conference With President Pervez Musharraf of 
Pakistan

September 22, 2006

    President Bush. Thank you very much. Please be seated. Laura and I 
appreciate the opportunity to welcome President and Mrs. Musharraf here 
to Washington. We remember fondly, Mr. President, your great hospitality 
in Pakistan, and we remember the importance of that visit. It 
reconfirmed our friendship, gave you and me a chance to discuss 
important issues. And there's no more important issue than defending our 
peoples.
    This President is a strong defender of freedom and the people of 
Pakistan, and I appreciate your leadership.
    President Musharraf. Thank you very much.
    President Bush. He understands that we are in a struggle against 
extremists who will use terror as a weapon. He understands it just about 
as good as anybody in the world--after all, they've tried to take his 
life. These extremists who can't stand the thought of a moderate leader 
leading an important country like Pakistan want to kill the President. 
That should say things to the people of Pakistan and the people of 
America--that because he has been a strong, forceful leader, he has 
become a target of those who can't stand the thought of moderation 
prevailing.
    I admire your leadership. I admire your courage. And I thank you 
very much for working on common strategies to protect our respective 
peoples.

[[Page 1654]]

    We had a good discussion here today. We talked about how our 
intelligence cooperation can continue. I want to remind the people of 
Pakistan and the people of America that because of the good work of our 
intelligence forces and Pakistani intelligence forces, as we helped 
people in the United Kingdom, we prevented the loss of innocent life. 
That kind of cooperation is necessary in a world in which extremists and 
radicals are willing to kill to try to achieve political objectives.
    We talked about the earthquake recovery, and our Nation was proud to 
support you, Mr. President, because we care when we see people 
suffering. And I was briefed by you and your administration when I was 
there, and I was impressed by the great organization and compassion 
shown for the Pakistani people by your Government. I hope all is going 
well, particularly for those who suffered mightily.
    We talked about economic development and the need to move forward on 
a reconstruction opportunity zones as well as a bilateral investment 
treaty. In other words, our relationship is more than just helping to 
secure our respective homelands. Ours is a relationship that recognizes 
that through economic prosperity, people can embetter themselves.
    We had a very interesting briefing on the federally administered 
tribal areas. The governor of the areas are with us here, and he briefed 
me and members of my national security team on the strategy to 
strengthen governance and to promote economic development.
    We talked about education. The first time I ever met President 
Musharraf, he talked about the need to make sure that school systems in 
Pakistan worked well. I was impressed then and I'm impressed now by your 
commitment to an education system that prepares students for the--and 
gives students the skills necessary to compete in a global economy.
    We talked about democracy. The last time I was with the President, 
he assured me and assured the people that were listening to the news 
conference that there would be free and fair elections in Pakistan in 
2007. He renewed that commitment, because he understands that the best 
way to defeat radicalism and extremism is to give people a chance to 
participate in the political process of a nation.
    We talked about India in relations--and the President's relations 
with India. I was pleased to see that in Havana Prime Minister Singh and 
President Musharraf had another discussion. I think it's very important 
that the issue of Kashmir move forward and be resolved peacefully. And I 
appreciate your efforts, Mr. President.
    We talked, of course, about Afghanistan. And President Musharraf and 
President Karzai and I will have dinner right here in the White House 
next week. And it's going to be an important discussion. It's going to 
be an important discussion because one of the most important avenues for 
peace is for Afghanistan to succeed. And it's in our mutual interests 
that we work together to help that country that's been devastated by war 
succeed. And so I'm looking forward to our trilateral discussion, Mr. 
President. It's going to be a good one, and it's going to be an 
interesting one. And it's an important discussion.
    All in all, we've had yet another good meeting between people who 
are able to speak frankly with each other and people who share the 
common desire for our people to live in security and peace.
    Welcome.
    President Musharraf. Thank you very much. I would like to, first of 
all, express my gratitude and also on behalf of my entire delegation for 
the warmth and hospitality that we have received and many courtesies 
that are being extended to us since our arrival in the United States.
    I had an excellent meeting with President Bush. We, first of all, 
reinforced our trust and confidence in each other. I trust President 
Bush, and I have total confidence in him that he desires well for 
Pakistan and for our region. And I trust him also that he's trying to do 
his best for bringing peace to the world. And I trust him also that he's 
trying to resolve the core issue of the Palestinian dispute.
    We discussed the entire gambit of relations bilaterally between the 
United States and Pakistan and also in our region and on

[[Page 1655]]

international issues. Bilaterally, we reinforced our desire to have this 
relationship on a long-term basis, broad-based, and a strategic 
relationship. When we are talking of broad-based, whatever the President 
has said, it involves all aspects which we discussed. It has its 
political and diplomatic aspects, which we reinforced, and then our 
desire to fight terrorism and succeed against terrorism.
    Other than that issue, in the social sector, on the economy, how 
whatever assistance is being given to us, whatever assistance we 
require, our requests on that--especially in the field of trade and 
investment, which are the main areas which we require assistance in--
otherwise, on a broad-based level, assistance in the education and 
health sector, on the defense side, the F-16 deals. All this was 
discussed.
    On the regional issues, on the international plain, we did discuss 
the core issue of the Palestinian dispute, which needs to be resolved, 
and being at the core. And I am extremely glad that the President has a 
desire and a will to resolve this Palestinian dispute. I wish him very 
well because that lies at the heart of all problems, even at the heart 
of terrorism and extremism.
    On the regional side, in our region, we also discussed the 
rapprochement going on between Pakistan and India. And I proudly told 
the President that we had--I had an excellent meeting with Prime 
Minister Manmohan Singh in Havana. And it was a step forward towards 
resolution of disputes between India and Pakistan. I did tell him on the 
way forward that we are moving on the Kashmir dispute especially.
    Coming on the other side, we had an in-depth discussion on what is 
happening in Afghanistan and our tribal agency. They are--I explained to 
him whatever we are doing in the form of the peace treaty that we have 
just signed through a grand jirga, which is an assembly of elders.
    This treaty is not to deal with the Taliban; it is actually to fight 
the Taliban. The misperception in the media, I did clarify to the 
President. And may I very briefly say--and what I explained to the 
President--that this is a holistic approach that we are taking to 
fighting terrorism in Pakistan, in the tribal agencies of Pakistan. This 
is a political site of the holistic strategy--the holistic strategy 
being the military arm being used, a political element, an 
administrative element, and a reconstruction element.
    So we want to move on all these aspects forward, confining myself to 
this deal. This deal is not at all with the Taliban; as I said, this is 
against the Taliban, actually. This deal is with the tribal elders of 
north Waziristan agency. And the deal has three bottom lines which we 
fixed for ourselves. And this is very important, which I explained to 
the President.
    Number one: There will be no Al Qaida activity in our tribal agency 
or across the border in Afghanistan. There will be no Taliban activity 
in our tribal agency or across in Afghanistan. There will be no 
Talibanization, which is an obscurantic thoughts or way of life--no 
Talibanization. So all these three have been agreed by the tribal elders 
who signed that deal. And when they signed the deal, they are 
honorbound, and they have a very strict honor code to not only abide by 
it but also that whoever violates it they'll move against them.
    So this is, in brief, the deal which I explained to the President. 
And I know that he's satisfied with that deal. And maybe this shows the 
light or the way forward for bringing peace to the region.
    So this is what we discussed holistically. I would like to conclude 
by saying we had a total understanding of views between President Bush 
and myself. And as I said, we reinforced our trust and confidence in 
each other. Thank you very much.
    President Bush. Good job.
    Two questions apiece. Deb [Deb Riechmann, Associated Press].

Pakistan's Role in the War on Terror

    Q. Mr. President, after 9/11, would the United States have actually 
attacked Pakistan if President Musharraf had not agreed to cooperate 
with the war on terrorism? He says that the United States was 
threatening to bomb his country back into the Stone Age.
    And, President Musharraf, would Pakistan have given up its backing 
of the Taliban if this threat had not come from Armitage?

[[Page 1656]]

    President Bush. First, let me--she's asking about the Armitage 
thing. The first I've heard of this was when I read it in the newspaper 
today. You know, I was--I guess I was taken aback by the harshness of 
the words.
    All I can tell you is, is that shortly after 9/11, Secretary Colin 
Powell came in and said, ``President Musharraf understands the stakes, 
and he wants to join and help rout out an enemy that has come and killed 
3,000 of our citizens.'' As a matter of fact, my recollection was that 
one of the first leaders to step up and say that the stakes have 
changed, that attack on America that killed 3,000 of the citizens needs 
to be dealt with firmly, was the President. And if I'm not mistaken, 
Colin told us that, if not the night of September the 11th, shortly 
thereafter. Now, I need to make sure I get my facts straight, but it was 
soon.
    I don't know of any conversation that was reported in the newspaper 
like that. I just don't know about it.
    President Musharraf. I would like to--I am launching my book on the 
25th, and I am honorbound to Simon and Schuster not to comment on the 
book before that day. [Laughter]
    President Bush. In other words, buy the book, is what he's saying. 
[Laughter]

Islam/Religious Freedom

    Q. My question is for the U.S. President. Your Excellency, President 
Musharraf has issued a call for building bridges and promoting 
interfaith harmony between the West and the Islamic world, which is in 
upheaval and in complete turmoil. So your comments of Islamic fascists 
and then the comments of the Pope have inflamed the Islamic world. And 
my question is that--would you take the leading role, along with 
President Musharraf, to build these bridges and promote interfaith 
harmony to avert any wrong notion of class of civilizations, sir?
    President Bush. I appreciate the President's leadership in promoting 
harmony. There is unbelievable propaganda in the Middle East these days 
that try to inflame passion. The propagandists are attempting to create 
conditions where terror is justified. And so at my speech at the United 
Nations, I stood up and said loud and clear, America respects Islam. And 
we do. We don't respect people who kill in the name of Islam to achieve 
political objectives, like the terrorists do.
    As a matter of fact, these extremists exploit propaganda in order to 
justify their behavior. All of us need to step up and talk about a world 
in which we respect each other's religions. As a matter of fact, it's 
very important for Muslims around the world to know, there's a lot of 
Muslims living at peace here in the United States. They are proud 
Americans, and they're equal to me as a citizen. We respect their 
religions.
    I repeat to you, however, that the free world and the moderate world 
must stand up to these extremists and not let them spread their hateful 
propaganda, not let them try to incite people to acts of violence, 
because these extremists are not only against Western people, they're 
also against moderate people. And the President is reaching out to help 
understand--the world to understand that the Muslim religion is a 
peaceful religion--is very important. And we can help, and we will help.
    One way we can help is to work with the Palestinians and the 
Israelis to achieve peace. I'm the first President ever to have 
articulated a two-state solution. I believe a Palestinian state, as a 
democracy living side by side with Israel, will yield the peace. What's 
important is for people to understand that in order to have that peace 
and that Palestinian state, people have got to recognize Israel's right 
to exist in order for this to happen. You can't ask people to negotiate 
with people who say you shouldn't exist.
    We will continue to give aid to people who suffer. We didn't ask the 
question whether--you know, what was the nature of the religion of the 
people who suffered in Pakistan when we spent a half a billion dollars 
to help this President. We said, they're suffering, and we want to help. 
And so we will continue to outreach.
    It's important, however, for people in the Middle East to reject the 
extremist propaganda that is spreading, in many cases, absolute lies 
about the intentions of the United States. They love to say this is a 
war against Islam; I can't think of anything more false. These are 
moderate, reasonable people who

[[Page 1657]]

reject extremism in order for there to be peace. And so I'll work hard 
to do my part. Thank you for that question.
    Steve [Steve Holland, Reuters].

Usama bin Laden/Pakistan-U.S. Cooperation in the War on Terror

    Q. Thank you, sir. There's been a back-and-forth this week over 
whether the U.S. needs permission to strike inside Pakistan if Usama bin 
Laden is located. Could each of you give your position on that? And did 
you--are you satisfied with his assurances on the tribal deal?
    President Bush. Well, first of all, I appreciate the briefing on the 
tribal deal. When the President looks me in the eye and says, ``The 
tribal deal is intended to reject the Talibanization of the people and 
that there won't be a Taliban and won't be Al Qaida,'' I believe him, 
you know. This is a person with whom I've now had close working 
relationships for 5\1/2\ years. And when he says, ``If we find--when we 
find Usama bin Laden, he will be brought to justice,'' I believe him. 
And we'll let the tactics speak for themselves after it happens.
    We're on the hunt together. It's in the President's interest that Al 
Qaida be brought to justice, and it's in our interest. And we 
collaborate and we strategize and we talk a lot about how best to do 
this.
    Q. So you do have permission to go inside Pakistan?
    President Bush. All I can tell you is, is that when Usama bin Laden 
is found, he will be brought to justice. And that's what we've 
continually discussed.
    President Musharraf. May I add?
    President Bush. Yes, please.
    President Musharraf. I think, as the President said, we are on the 
hunt together against these people. Now why are we bothering--or how 
to--the semantics of the tactics of how to deal with the situation? We 
will deal with it. We are on the hunt together. You want the person--if 
at all we confront him, if at all we find out his location, we are quite 
clear what to do.
    But let's not get involved in how it ought to be done, by whom it 
ought to be done. There's total coordination at the intelligence level 
between the two forces. There's coordination at the operational level, 
at the strategic level, even at the tactical level. So therefore, we are 
working together, and when the situation arises, we need to pick the 
right decision to strike. That's how I----
    President Bush. You probably don't want to let them know what we're 
thinking about anyway, do we?
    President Musharraf. And may I also say that we need to have--ladies 
and gentlemen here, we have the pieces of--a relationship is trust and 
confidence. Now, if we don't have that trust and confidence in each 
other, and we think that we are bluffing each other--I don't think 
that's a good way of moving forward, anyway.

Kashmir/Situation in the Middle East

    Q. Mr. President, I have two-part question. And first, I must--
[inaudible]--the remarks which you gave at the outset about President 
Musharraf. And second is, Mr. President, in Pakistan, we cherish the 
idea of having strategic and long partnership with United States of 
America. But we found that there is--a discriminate reality is being 
followed by your great country pertaining to the--[inaudible]--of the 
nuclear technology for the peaceful purpose. Pakistan needs energy, and 
we have been denied of that. Could you ensure us that this 
discrimination will come to an end after this great meeting with 
President Musharraf?
    And the second part of my question, Mr. President, is that President 
Musharraf has been asking resolution of the problem of Palestine and 
Kashmir for the sustainable peace in the world, especially in this part 
of the world. Aren't you going to contemplate--are you contemplating 
some step to take, some initiative to resolve these two problems? And 
question for Mr. President is, is how far did----
    President Musharraf. Three in one. [Laughter]
    President Bush. If I ask him--then I'll remember yours.
    Q. ----talk about these discussions with President Bush and the 
agenda, the item for which you are going to take up with the President 
of the United States, how far have you been successful? Thank you, sirs.

[[Page 1658]]

    President Bush. Man, you represented the entire press corps there; 
that's good. [Laughter] We talked about energy, and we talked about our 
need to work through the recent history that we've had together on 
dealing with proliferation matters.
    Secondly, in terms of Kashmir and Palestine, Kashmir issue will be 
solved when two leaders decide to solve it. And we want to help. The 
United States can't force nations to reach an agreement just because we 
want there to be an agreement. Lasting agreements occur when leaders of 
nations say, ``Let's get the past behind us, and let's move forward.''
    I am encouraged by the meetings that the President and the Prime 
Minister of India have had. It is an indication that there is desire at 
the leadership level to solve this long-standing problem.
    Leadership is also going to be required between Israel and 
Palestine. We, of course, can help and will help. But it's important for 
you to understand that we cannot impose peace. We can help create the 
conditions for peace to occur. We can lay out vision. We can talk to 
world leaders, and we do. We can provide aid to help institutional 
building so that a democracy can flourish.
    But, ultimately, peace, long-standing peace depends upon the will of 
leaders. I'm impressed by this President's will to get something done in 
Kashmir. He and I have talked about this issue in the past. He has said 
he was going to reach out to the Prime Minister of India, and he has. 
And our hope is that this process continues forward.
    I asked the President, just like I would ask the Prime Minister of 
India, what can we do to help. What would you like the United States to 
do to facilitate an agreement? Would you like us to get out of the way? 
Would you like us not to show up? Would you like us to be actively 
involved? How can we help you, if you so desire, achieve peace? And 
that's the role of the United States, as far as I'm concerned.
    President Musharraf. Thank you. I think I've already answered. We've 
had far-reaching discussion encompassing bilateral issues, regional, and 
international. I think we have general consensus on all issues.
    President Bush. Thank you, Mr. President. Good job.
    President Musharraf. Thank you.
    President Bush. Buy the book. [Laughter]

Note: The President's news conference began at 10:21 a.m. in the East 
Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Sehba Musharraf, 
wife of President Musharraf; Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India; 
President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan; and former Deputy Secretary of 
State Richard L. Armitage.