Remarks to the Press by the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

August 20, 2010 | Gul Khana Palace | Kabul, Afghanistan

President Karzai: Welcome, gentlemen and ladies of the press. You aremost welcome today to this very important, frank and, as usual, very productive meeting between myself, members of my government and an extremely honored guest of ours, Senator Kerry - who is not only a
friend of ours but one of the most prominent Senators and citizens of our ally, the United States of America.

During this trip of Senator Kerry, we discussed various ways of how, as soon as possible, we can give an end to civilian casualties, to address the question of parallel structures to the Afghan Government -- one of them was the private security firms, which, through a decree, I called to eliminate within four months. That decision is final in the Afghan Government and I hope the international partners of ours will help in such regard.

We also discussed the questions of corruption and the consequences that it has for Afghanistan, for the war on terror, for the success of our efforts. We understood the points of both sides that we should have a joint campaign against corruption. I would like to make very clear here that I think at this stage it is very, very important for Afghanistan to have all the contracts revealed, whether those contracts are given by the international community to people in the Afghan Government -- to
individuals, family members of the political leaders, the President, of the Vice Presidents, of the Ministers and other political leaders - or whether they are contracts given by the Afghan Government, as well, to political circles and government officials or their relatives. Both have to be investigated and clarified, made public.

We also discussed the issue of Afghan leadership and ownership and that the process should be expedited. And we would like to report today that we had an understanding on all of these issues, that towards the strengthening of our partnership.

With regard to the anti-crimes task force and sensitive investigation body, which is of concern to the international community, which we have begun to look at, we will make sure that these bodies are run in accordance with Afghan laws, under the Afghan Constitution, and are sovereign as Afghan bodies and independent - absolutely, in full terms - as Afghan bodies, to continue to fight against corruption.

I think that is all that we were discussing and, Mr. Kerry, I would now refer to you, my dear friend, for any remarks. And welcome, once again, to Afghanistan.

Senator Kerry: Well, thank you very much, Mr. President. First of all, I want to thank you and the members of your Government for a very generous welcome and I appreciate enormously the President's personal hospitality and the time that he has spent with me, with Ambassador
Eikenberry, with General Petraeus, talking through issues of enormous concern to both of our countries. Of particular note, the President has raised a number of critical issues of how we can improve the presence of the American forces here, the international forces here, and the
prosecution of the efforts against insurgents.

The President has made some very important and sound recommendations to us about ways in which we can make this effort more effective. I intend to return to Washington and convey those. I've already had conversations with Secretary Clinton and with Ambassador Holbrooke and
will convey each and every one of those recommendations by the President as to how we can make this effort here much more effective, how we can deliver services -- we can help the Government of Afghanistan to do so.

President Karzai has also made the important point that it is the Government of Afghanistan that needs to be able to ultimately stand on its own two feet and deliver those services. He has made recommendations and we need to work at ways in which we can more rapidly help that to
happen.

One of the issues that has been raised, publicly and otherwise, is the question of corruption. I was very heartened to hear the President and the members of his Government re-commit themselves to significant efforts in the days ahead to guarantee the independent operation of their major crimes unit, as an Afghan institution, a sovereign Afghan institution, which would welcome outside expertise, but which will be run in a way that is consistent with the Constitution.

The President has guaranteed that there will be action, there will be changes, there will be demonstrated activities over the course of the next weeks, months, that can give confidence to people that there is movement and accountability and transparency in that process. And I welcome that, Mr. President.

We also discussed the issues of neighbors, particularly Pakistan - the challenges of the sanctuaries in Western Pakistan. And I think, without going into them here and now, I would simply say that we arrived at some important conclusions that I will also carry with me back to Washington as to how we can improve that relationship, and ultimately, hopefully have a major impact on the conduct of activities in this region.

So, I thank the President again. This was very candid, sometimes tough, conversation. But I think we came out of it with a terrific mutual understanding of ways in which we can both, jointly, make a difference and we look forward to doing so.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.