[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 50 (Monday, December 22, 2008)]
[Pages 1534-1537]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's News Conference With President Hamid Karzai of 
Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan

December 15, 2008

[At this point, President Karzai spoke in Dari, and no translation was 
provided.]

    President Karzai. Most welcome, Mr. President. Most welcome.
    President Bush. Thank you, sir. Thanks, Mr. President; it's good to 
be with a dear friend. You and I have spent a lot of time together, and 
we have done a lot of work together, all aiming to give the people of 
Afghanistan a better life. And I'm proud to be with you.
    I hope you understand why it is important for me to get back to 
Washington, and that is because my wife expects for me to be back in 
Washington. [Laughter] We have a holiday reception at the White House, 
and so I'm going to have to hustle back; after all, I did sneak out of 
town under the dark of night. And now I'm going to go back home having 
visited this important country. So thanks for having me. And she sends 
her best. As you well know, that Laura's--one of her great passions is 
to stand with the courageous women in Afghanistan. And I can assure you, 
Mr. President, that after our time in Washington, we both look forward 
to continuing to stay in touch and to continuing to stay engaged with 
the people of Afghanistan. So Laura sends her deep respect and great 
affection for the people of Afghanistan.
    You know, I was thinking when I--right before we landed, how much 
Afghanistan has changed since I have been the President. And sometimes 
it's hard when you're in the midst of a difficult situation, it's hard 
to get perspective. In 2001, the Taliban were brutally repressing the 
people of this country. I remember the images of women being stoned, or 
people being executed in the soccer stadium because of their beliefs. 
There was a group of killers that were hiding here and training here and 
plotting here to kill citizens in my country.
    Right after the attacks, I made it abundantly clear that we would 
bring people to justice for our own security; and made it abundantly 
clear that if a group of people harbored a terrorist, they were equally 
as guilty as a terrorist. And we gave the Taliban an opportunity to 
respond; they didn't. And American troops proudly liberated the people 
of Afghanistan. That's what life was like.
    Now we could have replaced one power person with another. That would 
have been, I guess, the easy route, and then just left it behind, say 
we've done our duty and we've upheld the doctrine, and said, ``Okay, 
we're now going to take this group, replace them with this group''--and 
just got out of the way. But that's not--that, one, didn't learn the 
lessons of the eighties and the nineties. And secondly, the interest is 
to build a flourishing democracy as an alternative to an hateful 
ideology. And it's not easy work. Afghanistan is a huge country. The 
road system is not nearly as well developed as a lot of other countries. 
You're just beginning to develop your resource base in a way that I hope 
benefits the people of Afghanistan; after all, it's their resources.
    It's difficult because extremists refuse to accept the beauty of 
democracy. They've got a different vision, and so therefore, they're 
willing to kill innocent people to achieve their objectives.
    There has been a lot of progress since 2001--after all, girls are 
back in school. I happen to believe that's important. As the father of 
twin girls, I couldn't imagine living in a society where my little girls 
couldn't have a chance to realize their God-given potential.
    President Karzai. Yes.
    President Bush. You've got boys flying kites again in Afghanistan. 
You've got health clinics up all across the country. The President was 
telling me of a health clinic in the remote northeast region of 
Afghanistan, a place where it had been unimaginable.
    The economy has more than doubled in size. It needs to double in 
size again, and then double in size again, no question. But it has 
doubled in size. Security forces are growing stronger. You've got good 
people in

[[Page 1535]]

Afghanistan who are--you know, want to work to provide security so that 
a political process can grow behind it.
    Now there's been good progress made, but there are a lot of tough 
challenges. One of the great, interesting things that I'll be watching--
since I believe so strongly in democracy--are the upcoming elections. 
And I've talked to General McKiernan, he said--who's told me that--about 
the strategy, along with Ambassador Wood, about the strategy to help the 
Afghan folks--the military, and political leaders--get the elections up 
and running. And it's going to be an exciting time for the people of 
Afghanistan, to go to the polls and be able to express their opinion. 
And I'm sure the press corps, the Afghanistan press corps, is looking 
forward to covering the elections. It'll give you something to do in a 
very important part of your country's history.
    I told the President that you can count on the United States; just 
like you've been able to count on this administration, you'll be able to 
count on the next administration as well. It's in our interest that 
Afghanistan's democracy flourish. It's in America's interest that we 
forever deny safe haven for people who still want to kill our citizens.
    And so, Mr. President, I come bringing the greetings of the country. 
It has been a privilege to work with you over these years. I have come 
to admire you, I appreciate your service, and I wish you and the people 
of Afghanistan all the very best.
    President Karzai. Most welcome, Mr. President; it's our pleasure and 
honor. Most welcome.

Presidential Transition/President-Elect Obama's Foreign Policy

    Q. My question is from His Excellency, the President of the United 
States. First, if President-elect Obama brings any change in the war 
against terrorism in Afghanistan or any change in the strategy to--
towards Afghanistan or in the policies. Being from the Republicans, will 
your party support his plannings?
    And second, regarding he said he was in Pakistan and the terrorists 
in Pakistan, what's your message to Obama that how he should deal with 
Pakistani Government regarding terrorists, about the diplomat--using 
diplomatic ways or using military?
    President Bush. Yes. Thank you. First, I am of a different political 
party than President-elect Obama. But I want him to succeed. I want him 
to do well. And to this end we have worked hard to help the transition.
    Secondly, I think it is interesting that he has picked Secretary 
Gates, the Secretary of Defense under--the last couple of years under my 
administration, who will be the Secretary of Defense under his 
administration. And I think that should send a clear signal to the 
people of Afghanistan that the transition will be a smooth transition.
    I expect you'll see more U.S. troops here as quickly as possible in 
parts of the country that are being challenged by the Taliban. I 
remember when President Karzai and President Musharraf and I had the 
famous dinner at the White House. And it--you know, the discussions 
really are the same today as they were then, and that is that extremists 
and terrorists and people who use car bombs and suicide bombers to 
achieve political objectives are a threat to all of us. And that there 
needs to be a comprehensive strategy in helping the Pakistan Government 
deal with those who bring great harm on their citizens and bring harm on 
the citizens of Afghanistan.
    So to answer your question, I think it's a--we need to have a 
collaborative strategy. We need to work together in a constructive way. 
And we are making progress along those lines. You know, I was with 
President Zardari in--I think it was in New York. And I had never met 
him before, and I was reminding him that I'm, you know, a person who 
says that we will defend our country and defend our people. The most 
important job for the President of the United States is defend our 
people from attack.
    He said, ``You don't have to talk to me about extremists attacking 
people, extremists killed my wife.'' And so we're--there's a lot of 
consultations going on with the President--I think you're going to be 
meeting with President Zardari soon.
    President Karzai. Yes.
    President Bush. And that's good, and I appreciate that.

[[Page 1536]]

    Olivier [Olivier Knox, Agence France-Presse].

War on Terror in Afghanistan/Troop Levels in Afghanistan

    Q. Thank you, gentlemen. I have one question for the two of you. 
Canada has announced it's pulling out in 2011; South Korea is already 
gone. In that context are you concerned about the level of international 
support for the war here, and are the 20,000 additional U.S. troops 
enough to bring this conflict to a close?
    President Bush. Well, first of all, as you know, I've always relied 
upon our military commanders to make the recommendations necessary to 
achieve the objectives we've set forth. We have added troops during--
twice during my Presidency--obviously, in the initial move in and then 
we added troops to that. I've announced we're going to send in more 
troops. And then, of course, the Obama administration will be analyzing 
the situation, and it sounds like that they intend to expedite the--
sending more troops in.
    So--and why do we do that? Because this is what our generals suggest 
we do. To answer your--this is just going to be a long struggle, first 
of all. This doesn't end tomorrow. Ideological struggles take time. As a 
civil society whose firm political institutions begin to develop, 
extremism begins to wither; it gets marginalized, and then it withers 
away. And so it's going to take time. I can't tell you the troop levels 
we'll need; all I know is our generals said, this is what we need now. 
And they--I listened to them, and I'm confident President-elect Obama 
will listen to the commanders as well.
    President Karzai. We're already very grateful to all those 
countries, nations who have come to help Afghanistan, and who have 
already helped Afghanistan. Canada is among the countries that's the 
frontrunner in assistance to Afghanistan. Their plans to withdraw their 
troops by 2011 or '12 is not in contradiction to the understanding that 
we have with them. They will continue to assist us in various other 
forms in Afghanistan.
    What is important here is that while we are continuing to fight 
terrorism and to bring institutional strength and stability to 
Afghanistan, with an improved economy and improved governance and 
service delivery by the Government, we also work on enabling Afghanistan 
to eventually stand on its own feet. The Afghan people don't want to be 
a burden on the international community forever. And we are grateful 
already that the international community is helping us in blood and 
their taxpayers' money.
    We are grateful to Canada. We are grateful to all other countries, 
as partners for building Afghanistan, for fighting terrorists who are 
the enemies of all of us. So we are happy in any form of assistance 
other countries give us and will be grateful for it.
    One--pick up one more question, Mr. President? You'd like to 
continue?
    President Bush. All those who want another question, raise your 
hand. [Laughter] I guess so, Mr. President.

[A reporter began to ask a question in Dari.]

    President Bush. Hold on a second.

Progress in Afghanistan/War on Terror in Afghanistan

[The reporter continued his question, and no translation was provided.]

    President Bush. I respectfully disagree with you. The Taliban was 
brutalizing the people of Afghanistan. And they're not in power. And I 
just cited the progress that is undeniable.
    Now, is there more work to be done? You bet. I never said the 
Taliban was eliminated; I said they were removed from power. And I said 
girls are going back to school, and boys are flying kites, and health 
clinics are opening, and the number of university students is 
dramatically expanding, and the number of schools around the country is 
growing, and there's a ring road built. Yes, there's no question there's 
a Taliban that wants to fight back. Why? Because they want to regain 
power. They can't stand the thought of a free society. And they're 
lethal, and they are tough. No question about it, no question about it.
    So therefore, is the suggestion because they're tough that we just 
withdraw, that it's too hard work? Not as far as I'm concerned. I think 
it's necessary work. And it's in the interest of the United States that 
we not allow Afghanistan to become a safe haven

[[Page 1537]]

again for Al Qaida. Al Qaida is greatly weakened since 2001. As a matter 
of fact, they at one point declared the most central front in the war on 
terror in Iraq, where they're doing very poorly.
    And they're not doing so well here either. Now, they can hide in 
remote regions. They can hide, but we will stay on the hunt, and we will 
keep the pressure on them, because it's in the people--the peaceful 
people of Afghanistan's interest, just like it's in the interest of this 
country.
    And so, is there still difficult days ahead? Absolutely. But are the 
conditions a lot better today in Afghanistan than they were in 2001? 
Unquestionably, undoubtedly, they're better.

[President Karzai spoke in Dari, and no translation was provided.]

    President Karzai. Mr. President.
    President Bush. Steven Lee [Steven Lee Myers, New York Times].

Troop Levels in Afghanistan

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. If I could ask President Karzai first. 
We just came from Iraq, where they've signed an agreement outlining a 
security arrangement, and it includes a withdrawal of American forces 
within 3 years. I wonder if you envisioned a similar kind of arrangement 
where--would you like to see a scheduled withdrawal or a timetable of 
withdrawal for the foreign forces who are in Afghanistan? Thank you.
    President Karzai. Well, sir, Afghanistan is in a cooperative 
arrangement with the United States and the rest of the international 
community. The decision in Afghanistan is to continue our cooperation 
with the international community until we have defeated terrorism and 
extremism and the threat that emanates from them to us, to our 
neighbors, and to the rest of the world. And Afghanistan will not allow 
the international community to leave it before we are fully on our feet, 
before we are strong enough to defend our country, before we are 
powerful enough to have a good economy, and before we have taken from 
President Bush and the next administration billions and billions of more 
dollars--[laughter]--no way that they can let you go.
    President Bush. Yes, you better hurry up, in my case. [Laughter]
    Thank you, sir. Thank you, all.
    President Karzai. Most welcome, most welcome. Take care. Thanks very 
much. Thank you.

Note: The President's news conference began at 7:53 a.m. at the 
Presidential Palace. In his remarks, he referred to Gen. David D. 
McKiernan, USA, commander, NATO International Security Assistance Force, 
Afghanistan; former President Pervez Musharraf and President Asif Ali 
Zardari of Pakistan; and former Prime Minister and Opposition Leader 
Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, who was killed in a suicide attack in 
Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on December 27, 2007. The Office of the Press 
Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of this press 
conference.