[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 50 (Monday, December 22, 2008)]
[Pages 1531-1534]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to Military Personnel at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan

December 15, 2008

    The President. Thank you all very much. Thanks for the warm welcome. 
Thanks for coming out to greet me at a kind of a strange hour. 
[Laughter] General, I appreciate your accommodating what I'm calling 
``Rudolph One.'' [Laughter] After all, it is the holiday season. You 
might have heard, we made a little refueling stop in Baghdad earlier 
today. And now I'm proud to be back in Afghanistan. You might call it 
as--a early-morning wake-up call. Or in some of your cases, I might have 
shut--cut your evening off. We won't go there. [Laughter] In either 
case, I am proud to be with brave souls serving the United States of 
America.
    And my dear wife sends her very best regards. So, on behalf of Laura 
and everybody else back home, Merry Christmas and a happy holidays. 
Congratulations on your tremendous accomplishments. And above all, thank 
you for volunteering to defend the United States of America.
    You know, they often say, ``What are you going to miss?'' I'll miss 
the airplane, of

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course. [Laughter] But I'm mainly going to miss being the Commander in 
Chief of such an outstanding group of men and women.
    I appreciate Sergeant Major Vince Camacho for his service. I want to 
thank Ambassador Bill Wood; the commanding general of U.S. Forces, 
Afghanistan, General David McKiernan; Brigadier General Mike Holmes, 
commanding general, 45th [455th] * Expeditionary Wing; soldiers of the 
101st Airborne, the Screaming Eagles.
    I told the General that I had the honor of going to Fort Campbell 
the other day. And I saw a lot of your comrades, and I saw a lot of your 
families. And they have a message for you: Air Assault!
    I thank the airmen of the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing. I kind of 
like your motto: ``Start right, finish strong.''
    Audience members. Hooah!
    The President. Yes, that sounds pretty good for a guy with 36 days 
left. [Laughter]
    The soldiers of the 3d Brigade Combat Team; 1st Infantry Division, 
the Big Red One; soldiers of the 1st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Task 
Force Warrior; I want to thank all the troops from our coalition 
partners.
    I appreciate your countries for supporting this noble cause. I want 
to thank all the civilians, the diplomats, the Embassy personnel who are 
critical to our success. I thank all the other brave Americans here 
today, including members of the United States Navy, the United States 
Marine combat personnel, FBI agents----
    Audience members. Whoo!
    The President. And last but not least--[laughter]. They may sound 
small, but they're plenty tough. And last but not least, the 101st Army 
Band. You probably played some high notes to keep the folks awake. 
[Laughter]
    Afghanistan is a dramatically different country than it was 8 years 
ago. When I took office in 2001, the Taliban was brutally repressing the 
Afghan people. Girls were denied access to school. People who did not 
submit to the regime's radical beliefs were beaten in the public or 
executed in soccer stadiums. Al Qaida had freedom rein to operate the 
country--in the country. And it was here in Afghanistan that the 
terrorists planned the attacks of September the 11th, 2001.
    After that date, America gave the Taliban a choice: You can turn 
over the leaders of Al Qaida, or you can share in their fate. And when 
they refused, our just demands were enforced by the United States 
military. And thanks to you, the Taliban has gone from power, the Al 
Qaida training camps are closed, and 25 million Iraqis are free. And the 
American people, your loved ones, are more secure.
    Removing the Taliban was a landmark achievement, but our work did 
not end there. See, we could have replaced one group of thugs with 
another strongman. But all that would have done is invited the same 
problems that brought us the Al Qaida safe havens and the attacks on 
America in the first place. Those were the mistakes of the 1980s and 
1990s, and we were not going to repeat them again in the 21st century.
    So America set an ambitious goal to help Afghanistan's young 
democracy grow and thrive and emerge as an alternative to the ideology 
of hate and extremism and terror. This is a difficult and long effort. 
It's not easy to do this. It would have been so much simpler to say we 
got rid of one bunch and here's another one. But that's not what we 
believe is right. We want to lay the foundation of peace for generations 
to come. We want to do the hard work now so our children and our 
grandchildren can grow up in a peaceful world.
    So we rallied good allies to our side, including every member of 
NATO. We've developed civilian experts in the form of [civilian] * 
reconstruction teams. And together with the determined people of 
Afghanistan, we are making hopeful gains.
    * White House correction.
    Thanks to you, girls are back in school across Afghanistan. Does 
that matter? I think it does--I think it does. Thanks to you, boys are 
playing soccer again and flying kites and learning to be Boy Scouts. 
Thanks to you, access to health care is up dramatically. Thanks to you, 
Afghanistan's economy has more than doubled in size. And thanks to you, 
the Afghan people are preparing to go

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to the polls next year for another round of free elections. Thanks to 
you, Afghanistan has a democratic Government that is no longer an enemy 
of America; it is a friend of America.
    The enemies of freedom in Afghanistan are determined, no question 
about it, and the fight has been tough; I don't need to tell you. This 
is a large country. It has a long way--it's a long way away from a 
modern economy with a viable infrastructure. It's hard to get around 
Afghanistan. Yet we have a strategic interest, and I believe a moral 
interest in a prosperous and peaceful democratic Afghanistan. And no 
matter how long it takes, we will help the people of Afghanistan 
succeed.
    As a sign of our commitment, we've increased American troop levels 
in Afghanistan. Our NATO allies have done the same, and so have the 
Afghan people. The Afghan Army and police have grown. I call it a quiet 
surge. It's a surge that hadn't gotten much attention. But it has an 
unmistakable message: The Taliban has gone from power, and it's not 
coming back. Al Qaida terrorists have lost their safe haven in 
Afghanistan, and they're not going to get it back. Afghanistan will be a 
successful society and a hopeful society and a free society. And 
Afghanistan will never again be a safe haven for terrorists to attack 
the United States of America.
    In recent months, the violence has increased in some parts of 
Afghanistan. This is partly because we're going into new areas where the 
terrorists have never been challenged before. And if the enemy are 
fighting back, they don't like it when we show up. But ultimately, they 
will be no match for the Afghan people or her coalition partners. And 
they're certainly no match for the men and women of the United States 
military.
    I am confident we will succeed in Afghanistan because our cause is 
just, our coalition and Afghan partners are determined. And I am 
confident because I believe freedom is a gift of an Almighty to every 
man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth. Above all, I know the 
strength and character of you all. As I conclude this final trip, I have 
a message to you and to all who serve our country: Thank you for making 
the noble choice to serve and protect your fellow Americans.
    What you're doing in Afghanistan is an--is important, it is 
courageous, and it is selfless. It's akin to what American troops did in 
places like Normandy and Iwo Jima and Korea. Your generation is every 
bit as great as any that has come before. And the work you do every day 
is shaping history for generations to come.
    Because of you, America now has a strong friend and partner in the 
fight against extremism in a pivotal part of the world. Because of you, 
people across the broader east--Middle East now have an example of a 
more hopeful path--a model of liberty that can prevail over tyranny and 
terror. Because of you, killers who wanted to take the lives of 
Americans back home have been brought to justice before they reached our 
shores. And because of you and all who work to protect our Nation, 
America has done something many said was impossible: We have gone more 
than 7 years without a terrorist attack on our homeland.
    This time of year is especially a time when we thank the Almighty 
for our freedoms. And we think of those who laid down their lives to 
protect those freedoms. Back home their children are growing up without 
a mom or a dad. But all of our children are growing up with something 
else; the promise of a safer America, the promise of a better world, and 
the more likelihood for peace.
    This is a lasting memorial--all who have sacrificed here in 
Afghanistan. And thanks to you, that memorial will be achieved, and the 
sacrifice of your comrades will not have been in vain. We think of the 
comrades who have been wounded. And our Nation pledges that we will give 
them all the care and all the support they need to recover.
    And finally, we think of your families back home. You've got a loved 
one wondering what you're doing, how you're doing; I want you to do me a 
favor: When you get back to wherever you're getting back to, call them, 
e-mail them, or write them. Tell them you love them, and tell them the 
Commander in Chief thanks them for their sacrifice, thanks them for 
loving you like they do, and thanks for--thank them for standing with 
you as you serve the noble cause of peace.
    I am proud to be with you. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. 
May God bless

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you, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.

Note: The President spoke at 5:38 a.m. In his remarks, he referred to 
Command Sgt. Maj. Vincent Camacho, USA, 101st Airborne Division (Air 
Assault).