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Karzai: War won't stall recovery
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he's been reassured by President George W. Bush that a possible war with Iraq will not detract from the task of rebuilding his country. "I don't worry. I was given a very explicit assurance by the president and by the secretary of state, by other officials that I met, that the United States would not be reducing attention to Afghanistan," Hamid Karzai said on CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer. "As a matter of fact, there seems to be an increased attention to Afghanistan at this time," said Karzai, who met Bush and other U.S. officials in Washington last week. "It's extremely important to make sure that you finish a war that you start, and that you're not leaving it halfway," he said, referring to the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime, which was harboring members of al Qaeda. "This is a question of credibility. This is a question of success. This is a question of making sure that the objective that we have is achieved and achieved fully," Karzai said. Asked about the whereabouts of Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Karzai said most people wouldn't recognize Omar. "Nobody knows him," he said. "If I come across him tomorrow in the streets of Kabul or Kandahar or Herat or Mazar in Afghanistan, I would not recognize him. How would you arrest someone that you don't know how he looks?" Addressing the questions about the fate of bin Laden and recent audiotapes allegedly made by him, the Afghan president said, "If he want to prove that he's alive, he should come out with some of his videotapes as well." The United States went into Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. Some U.S. troops remain there to hunt down al Qaeda members and Taliban supporters. "As soon as we have our security institutions in place, there will be no need for the foreign help we are getting now," Karzai said. The country is building a national army and a police force, he noted. In response to a question, Karzai said if his country were a member of the U.N. Security Council, it would back the United States in its Iraqi stance. But he said he hoped war would not be necessary, even though Saddam Hussein's regime should be removed from power. RespectHe was unclear about whether that could be accomplished without a military conflict. "I don't want the Iraqi people to suffer because of one man. It's not just," he said. "It's cruel to make 12 or so million of a very nice nation suffer for one person or for one regime." "We want the Iraqi people definitely to have the right to choose their government of the free world and to be able to exploit their resources in a manner best suited for their well-being and progress." Karzai said his country "respects" the Iraqi nation. "It's a good part of the Islamic world. It's a nation that has contributed significantly to the Islamic civilization," he noted, quickly adding that Afghanistan is sorry the Iraqi people have been suffering for so long under Saddam Hussein's "tyranny" and "oppression." Speaking about Kabul's relationship with Washington, he said, "We are a friend of the United States. The U.S. has helped us in the time of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The U.S. has helped us now. We're not going to leave our friends unsupported." Karzai said that in the past year 2 million refugees have returned to Afghanistan and 3 million children are now going to school. Better on balance"We have replaced the old currency. We have a better economy. We have more people getting jobs," he said. "Yes, we have problems. We have a bad administration. We cannot collect national revenues. We don't have a full security force. We still have skirmishes here and there with the terrorists. "But to take things on balance, Afghanistan is doing much better than it was last year." He said 300 women participated last June in the Loya Jirga, the traditional Afghan tribal council, and that Afghanistan also has a free press. "There are over a hundred newspapers printed in Kabul on a weekly and daily and monthly basis. There are so many radio stations coming up in Afghanistan. It's a very different picture," he said. The United States also intends to help with irrigation projects. Last year, the emphasis was on reconstructing highways and roads, he said.
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