06 May 2009
“Unprecedented Cooperation” in Pakistan, Afghanistan Talks
Washington — Meetings involving Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari with President Obama and other officials of the United States in Washington have “advanced unprecedented cooperation” between the two South Asian nations, Obama said, to the benefit of all three countries.
Speaking May 6 at the White House after hosting both trilateral and bilateral meetings with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts, Obama said there is “much to be done” to confront common security threats from insurgents such as the Taliban and al-Qaida, as well as to encourage greater economic opportunity and hope among their people.
“Along the border where insurgents often move freely, we must work together with a renewed sense of partnership to share intelligence, and to coordinate our efforts to isolate, target and take out our common enemy. But we must also meet the threat of extremism with a positive program of growth and opportunity,” President Obama said.
Obama said Afghanistan’s economy needs assistance in order to grow, while also developing alternatives to the narcotics trade. “We must support free and open national elections later this fall, while helping to protect the hard-earned rights of all Afghans. And we must support the capacity of local governments and stand up to corruption that blocks progress.”
Similarly, he called for “lasting support” for Pakistan’s democratic institutions and assistance to Zardari’s government as it confronts insurgents that Obama described as “the single greatest threat to the Pakistani state.” The president said he has also asked the U.S. Congress for “sustained funding” to help Pakistan’s infrastructure, such as building schools, roads and hospitals.
“I want the Pakistani people to understand that America is not simply against terrorism — we are on the side of their hopes and their aspirations because we know that the future of Pakistan must be determined by the talent, innovation and intelligence of its people,” he said.
Obama said there is already evidence of a future “filled with violence and despair … without opportunity or hope” if al-Qaida and its allies prevail. “That's not what the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan want, and it's not what they deserve,” he said. The United States has also learned that “our security is shared,” especially after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
The president warned of continued violence and setbacks, but said the United States has made a “lasting commitment” not only to defeat al-Qaida, but also to support Afghanistan and Pakistan’s democratically elected governments.
“No matter what happens, we will not be deterred. The aspirations of all our people — for security, for opportunity and for justice — are far more powerful than any enemy,” he said.
HIGH-LEVEL DELEGATIONS MEET AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT
President Obama’s meetings with the two leaders followed an earlier high-level delegation meeting at the State Department chaired by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. That meeting included U.S. diplomatic, military, intelligence and economic officials and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who spoke with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts on agricultural assistance, water rights, anti-erosion measures and alternative crops.
“I thought it was a very significant meeting, in some ways a breakthrough meeting. The high-level participation from our government was very important, and the high-level participation from each of the delegations. A number of the comparable ministers had never met each other,” Clinton told reporters at the White House.
Earlier at the delegation meeting, the secretary said the United States “deeply, deeply regret[s]” the loss of civilian life in Afghanistan in a May 5 incident that press reports have described as an airstrike that occurred in the western region of the country.
“We don’t know all of the circumstances or causes, and there will be a joint investigation by your government and ours,” Clinton said. “But … any loss of innocent life is particularly painful. And I want to convey to the people of both Afghanistan and Pakistan that we will work very hard with your governments and with your leaders to avoid the loss of innocent civilian life.”
During the delegation meeting, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Afghan counterpart, Rangin Dadfar Spanta, signed a memorandum of understanding that commits their countries to achieving a trade transit agreement by the end of 2009. Speaking at the State Department, Clinton described the agreement as an “important milestone.” It has been under discussion since 1965, and once ratified, it will remove obstacles to the movement of goods and people across their border.
“Nothing opens up an area to economic development better than a good road with good transit rules and an ability to transport goods and people effectively,” she said. “It will also help us bring more foreign direct investment into both countries, because that’s always the first question: How do we get our goods to market? How do we get them to another economy in another country?”
