Bush and Karzai Reaffirm US-Afghan Strategic Partnership

A summit meeting between US President George W. Bush and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai yielded few surprises. The two reaffirmed strong US-Afghan relations, pledging to reduce the number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan, as well as to curb the country's narcotics production. In addition, Bush and Karzai said they remained committed to working with Pakistan's embattled President Pervez Musharraf. Their only area of disagreement concerned Iran's role in Afghanistan's reconstruction.

Following two days of talks, Bush and Karzai held a joint press availability at the US presidential retreat at Camp David on August 6. Perhaps the most interesting comments made by the two concerned Afghanistan's nettlesome neighbors – Pakistan and Iran.

Over the past year, numerous Afghans and Americans, including many senior military commanders and government officials, have accused Musharraf of allowing Islamic militants, including elements of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, to use northwest Pakistan as a safe haven. In recent weeks, leading American politicians and strategists have openly debated the feasibility of conducting an effective military strike against militant targets in Pakistan. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

In speaking to journalists, Bush and Karzai sought to downplay their differences with Musharraf. Bush, for instance, sidestepped a question about whether he would send US forces into Pakistan, even without Musharraf's permission, if the United States had "actionable intelligence" about the location of al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan.

The two men, instead, sought to draw the media's attention to the unprecedented "joint Jirga" that Karzai praised Bush for arranging. At this gathering, scheduled for August 9, Karzai, Musharraf, and other Afghan and Pakistani representatives would, in the words of President Bush, "all com[e] together to talk about reconciliation and how we can work together."

Karzai sparked heightened media interest in his visit when, shortly before arriving in the United States, he described Iran as playing a helpful role in Afghanistan. He told a CNN interviewer that "Iran has been a supporter of Afghanistan, in the peace process that we have and the fight against terror, and the fight against narcotics in Afghanistan."

Karzai declined to repeat this characterization at the press conference, but Bush made clear that he disagreed with this interpretation. For months, US officials and military commanders have accused groups within Iran of supplying anti-American insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq with highly destructive explosive devices and other conventional weapons.

Although Bush professed a willingness to listen to Karzai, since he "knows best about what's taking place in his country," Bush later warned that "we will continue to work to isolate it [the Iranian government], because they're not a force for good, as far as we can see. They're a destabilizing influence wherever they are."

During their press availability, both Bush and Karzai attempted to recast the public perception of the current conflict in Afghanistan, insisting that it had been US-led coalition forces, and not the reconstituted Taliban, that had assumed the offensive this spring. When a reporter pointedly reminded Karzai that he had also declared the Taliban "defeated" four years ago, the Afghan president maintained that the Taliban could not subvert the core institutions of the Afghan government, but could only pose a threat "to our innocent people; to children going to school; to our clergy; to our teachers; to our engineers; to international aid workers."

Bush characterized the Taliban as "brutal, cold-blooded killers" who were motivated by "a vision of darkness." Bush maintained that "[t]he real question is whether or not those of us who have the blessings of liberty will continue to pursue policies -- foreign policy, security policy aimed at not only protecting our homeland, but aimed at laying a condition for peace to prevail."

Neither president mentioned the 21 South Korean missionaries currently being held hostage by Taliban fighters. Bush administration spokesperson Gordon Johndroe said that Bush and Karzai were continuing to oppose exchanging Taliban prisoners for the Korean hostages, as the militants have demanded.

Bush also appeared intent on preventing popular pessimism that surrounds US involvement in Iraq from spreading to US military operations in Afghanistan. Bush stressed that "I'm proud to report to the American people that the Afghan army is in the fight. The government is in the fight and the army is in the fight."

On the civilian casualty issue, Bush said that coalition forces would "do everything we can to protect the innocent," in contrast to the Taliban, "who surround themselves with innocent life as human shields" and "are the murderers" who "have no regard for human life."

In a late July interview with the Financial Times, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said NATO and American commanders in Afghanistan had adopted more restrained tactics, such as using smaller bombs on aircraft, to reduce the number of civilian deaths. He did not indicate that NATO countries would send additional ground troops to Afghanistan, which could reduce the need for aerial bombing.

Affirming that he "had a good discussion with President Bush on civilian casualties," Karzai simply observed that President Bush "is as much concerned as I am, as the Afghan people are. I was very happy with that conversation."

Bush related that the two presidents "spent more than a fair amount of time" on Afghanistan's illicit drugs problem, since "it's important that we get this right." Besides reaffirming their joint commitment to crop eradication, Bush underscored the need to curb corruption in Afghanistan, because "[i]t's very important that our societies . . . have confidence in the capacity of government to conduct . . . [its] affairs in a way that's above board and honest and transparent."

Karzai acknowledged that narcotics cultivation was booming in Afghanistan. "Yes, we do have the problem of poppies," he said. He added that the problem could only be overcome with international patience and assistance. "The fight is there, and I hope your assistance will continue to be delivered to Afghanistan to fight narcotics," Karzai said. The United States is providing Afghanistan with approximately $10 billion annually in direct assistance.

Karzai related that a government commission had "developed a mechanism" that will hopefully enhance his administration's ability to "fight against corruption in Afghanistan." In any case, he concluded, "[t]he rest, life, is going on well, with a lot of hope. We have a better administration, more capabilities. We can do lots of things on our own."