Post by Moses on May 24, 2005 2:16:46 GMT -5
story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1520&e=2&u=/afp/20050524/pl_afp/usafghanistan_050524004825
Mon May 23, 8:48 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush and Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai signed a "strategic partnership" enabling long-term US involvement in Afghanistan's security as well as reconstruction.
Among the key points of the agreement was allowing US military forces operating in Afghanistan to have continued access to the key Bagram Air Base as well as other military facilities as "may be mutually determined."
American access to these facilities was necessary for US forces to "help organize, train, equip, and sustain Afghan security forces" according to the joint declaration of the "US-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership."
"It's a partnership we have been working on for quite a while," Bush told reporters with Karzai by his side after their meeting at the White House.
"It's a partnership that establishes regular, high-level exchange on political, security and economic issues of mutual interest," Bush said.
Since helping to bring down the Taliban in 2001, Washington has remained Karzai's biggest supporter, both in terms of reconstruction aid and its military presence, with 18,000 troops on the ground fighting remnants of the Taliban and their allies.
Karzai has been a key advocate for a permanent security relationship with the United States but had stopped short of calling for full-time American bases, a sensitive topic in the war-shattered country.
In an apparent bid to assuage any concerns, Bush said Monday that under the new pact, the United States would "consult with Afghanistan if it perceives its territorial integrity, independence or security is at risk."
"Of course our troops will respond to US commanders, but our US commanders and our diplomatic mission there is in a consultative relationship with the government," he added.
Most of the US troops in Afghanistan are either based at Bagram airbase north of Kabul or at Kandahar airbase, which the United States uses to launch raids against insurgents still active in the south and east of the country.
The US also has an operating base at the old Soviet airport of Shindand in the western province of Herat near the Iranian border, and a forward operating base at Salerno in the southeast of the country, not far from Pakistan.
"We will help the Afghan people build strong, lasting government and civic institutions. We'll continue to support reconstruction, economic development and investments that will help educate and build the skills of the Afghan people," Bush said.
Karzai, on his first White House visit after winning his country's landmark presidential elections last October, said the "memorandum of understanding" he signed with Bush was for "long-term partnership" to enable Afghanistan "to stand on its own feet."
He said continued US help was vital because parliamentary elections in September would mark the end of the so-called Bonn Process, a UN-backed plan to help rebuild the poor Muslim state after the overthrow of the militant Taliban.
The two leaders also discussed the recently highlighted abuse of Afghan prisoners in US custody, with Karzai saying he was saddened over the cases but added that they were "individual acts."
"These things happen everywhere, as we are sad, we recognize that the American people, kind as they are to Afghanistan, have nothing to do with that," he added.
Eight Afghan prisoners have so far died in US custody in Afghanistan.
According to the New York Times, 27 soldiers faced probable criminal charges over two Afghan prisoner deaths highlighted last week that bore hallmarks of the Abu Ghraib scandal in Iraq.
Last Friday, an American military policeman was sentenced to three months in prison after pleading guilty to assault and two counts of making a false statement in the beating death of a prisoner in Afghanistan in 2002.
The United Nations has condemned the new allegations of abuse and called for tough action to deal with offenders.
Karzai also said that Afghanistan, the world's largest opium producer, hoped to slash poppy production by up to 30 percent this year by promoting alternative crops.
"Now if this trend continues, we'll have no poppies, hopefully, in Afghanistan in another five or six years," he said.
"That's a promise we have given to the world and to the Afghan people, and that's a promise that we will deliver on. Hold us accountable on that," he said.
Mon May 23, 8:48 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush and Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai signed a "strategic partnership" enabling long-term US involvement in Afghanistan's security as well as reconstruction.
Among the key points of the agreement was allowing US military forces operating in Afghanistan to have continued access to the key Bagram Air Base as well as other military facilities as "may be mutually determined."
American access to these facilities was necessary for US forces to "help organize, train, equip, and sustain Afghan security forces" according to the joint declaration of the "US-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership."
"It's a partnership we have been working on for quite a while," Bush told reporters with Karzai by his side after their meeting at the White House.
"It's a partnership that establishes regular, high-level exchange on political, security and economic issues of mutual interest," Bush said.
Since helping to bring down the Taliban in 2001, Washington has remained Karzai's biggest supporter, both in terms of reconstruction aid and its military presence, with 18,000 troops on the ground fighting remnants of the Taliban and their allies.
Karzai has been a key advocate for a permanent security relationship with the United States but had stopped short of calling for full-time American bases, a sensitive topic in the war-shattered country.
In an apparent bid to assuage any concerns, Bush said Monday that under the new pact, the United States would "consult with Afghanistan if it perceives its territorial integrity, independence or security is at risk."
"Of course our troops will respond to US commanders, but our US commanders and our diplomatic mission there is in a consultative relationship with the government," he added.
Most of the US troops in Afghanistan are either based at Bagram airbase north of Kabul or at Kandahar airbase, which the United States uses to launch raids against insurgents still active in the south and east of the country.
The US also has an operating base at the old Soviet airport of Shindand in the western province of Herat near the Iranian border, and a forward operating base at Salerno in the southeast of the country, not far from Pakistan.
"We will help the Afghan people build strong, lasting government and civic institutions. We'll continue to support reconstruction, economic development and investments that will help educate and build the skills of the Afghan people," Bush said.
Karzai, on his first White House visit after winning his country's landmark presidential elections last October, said the "memorandum of understanding" he signed with Bush was for "long-term partnership" to enable Afghanistan "to stand on its own feet."
He said continued US help was vital because parliamentary elections in September would mark the end of the so-called Bonn Process, a UN-backed plan to help rebuild the poor Muslim state after the overthrow of the militant Taliban.
The two leaders also discussed the recently highlighted abuse of Afghan prisoners in US custody, with Karzai saying he was saddened over the cases but added that they were "individual acts."
"These things happen everywhere, as we are sad, we recognize that the American people, kind as they are to Afghanistan, have nothing to do with that," he added.
Eight Afghan prisoners have so far died in US custody in Afghanistan.
According to the New York Times, 27 soldiers faced probable criminal charges over two Afghan prisoner deaths highlighted last week that bore hallmarks of the Abu Ghraib scandal in Iraq.
Last Friday, an American military policeman was sentenced to three months in prison after pleading guilty to assault and two counts of making a false statement in the beating death of a prisoner in Afghanistan in 2002.
The United Nations has condemned the new allegations of abuse and called for tough action to deal with offenders.
Karzai also said that Afghanistan, the world's largest opium producer, hoped to slash poppy production by up to 30 percent this year by promoting alternative crops.
"Now if this trend continues, we'll have no poppies, hopefully, in Afghanistan in another five or six years," he said.
"That's a promise we have given to the world and to the Afghan people, and that's a promise that we will deliver on. Hold us accountable on that," he said.