Following is a transcript of their remarks:

U.S. Department of State
Washington, D.C.
January 31, 2002

REMARKS BY SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN L. POWELL WITH SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS JACK STRAW, COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It is my great pleasure to have received Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, and we had a good exchange of views, as we always do, on the issues of importance between our two countries. I once again thanked Secretary Straw, and through him the British people, for all the outstanding support they have provided to America and to the campaign against terrorism. I especially congratulated the Foreign Secretary, and through him the British Armed Forces, for the terrific job they are doing in Afghanistan as the leading unit within the International Security Assistance Force.

As you might expect, we spent a lot of time talking about Afghanistan and looking at the way forward, and pleased at the progress that has been made, but recognizing there are still difficult challenges ahead as we help the Afghan people to a better future.

And we talked about other issues, to include the detainees at Guantanamo, which I briefed the Foreign Secretary on the status of them and to make sure that there was no question in anyone's mind that they are receiving the best care that they can receive, as one would expect from the United States. And we also talked about other matters of interest with respect to NATO and the upcoming ministerial meeting in Reykjavik, as well as getting ready for the Prague summit in the fall. So it is a great pleasure to have the Foreign Secretary here, and I would invite him to say a word or two.

FOREIGN SECRETARY STRAW: Thank you very much, Secretary Powell. It is a real pleasure for me to be back here in Washington for these discussions. Secretary Powell has already expounded on the agenda for our discussions. One of the key points of this was the future of Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai has been present here in Washington for three days. I saw him in London earlier today, just before I left for Washington, and he then went on to have a discussion with our Prime Minister Blair during the rest of the day. And what we are discussing with him is both the military position in Afghanistan, but also the much wider agenda of the measures which we all have to take to assist Afghanistan in reconstruction.

I also expressed my profound appreciation to Secretary Powell, the President of the United States and the people of the United States, for the resolute stand which they took from the 11th of September to ensure that there was justice for those who had been killed and injured on the 11th of September, and also to lay the foundations for a much safer world. Thank you.

QUESTION: Could I ask you both a question about the issue of Zimbabwe? The new press laws have just been passed restricting the freedom of the press. What is your response?

FOREIGN SECRETARY STRAW: We discussed Zimbabwe and the possibility of sanctions being imposed by the European Union. I discussed the matter so far as the United States sanctions is concerned. I wholly condemn the passage of these press laws. I find it almost impossible to comprehend how free and fair elections can be held in Zimbabwe when such laws have been passed. And that will be a matter which will have to be weighed very carefully in the balance by the European Union to decide whether the sanctions, in principle were decided upon earlier this week, ought to be triggered.

SECRETARY POWELL: I certainly share the Secretary's view. I have spoken out strongly in the past with respect to the actions that President Mugabe is taking within Zimbabwe, and I also condemn the press laws, as the Secretary did. And we are in close coordination with our British colleagues and with others as to what action might be appropriate as we move forward.

QUESTION: Thank you. To both of you, our Mr. Secretary first, what can you say about the Iranian involvement in Afghanistan? There are reports that they are training people for an insurrection against the Karzai government.

And also to Mr. Straw, some of our European allies are said to be a bit uncomfortable with our President's terming the "axis of evil" to certain countries, Iran included.

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, we are watching Iranian actions very closely. The Iranians played a helpful role at the Bonn meetings which produced the agreement that provided for the Interim Authority to take over again in Kabul, and they have also played a helpful role in the reconstruction conference that was held in Japan not too long ago.

But we are also watching with great interest their activities in the western part of the country, the activities of parts of the Iranian Government that might be trying to exercise undue influence over the new government. And so when we detect those kinds of activities, we call it to the attention of Iranian authorities through a variety of means to let them know that it is not the time -- this is not the time for the Great Game to start again, that all of Afghanistan's neighbors should work together now, not to achieve new levers of influence over Afghanistan, but to work together to provide hope for the Afghan people and bring that hope into being, make it a reality and not do things which tend to destabilize or in some way support any one faction against the goal of a representative national government.

FOREIGN SECRETARY STRAW: Thank you. We share the profound concern of the United States administration about terrorism wherever it occurs and the need for firm action to be taken in respect to that terrorism, and that is nothing new. And in this respect, I speak for the British Government and for the British Government alone. It's for other European nations to express their views, but this is our view, and we are very clear about this.

So far as Iran is concerned, it is a matter I talked about to Hamid Karzai this morning, in very similar terms to Secretary Powell. And their view and our view is that we should stay engaged with the reformist government, with the things for which we are grateful; at the same time, send out strong messages to other parts of the government of Iran about actions and support which we regard as unacceptable.

And one of the very interesting passages in President Bush's speech yesterday in respect to Iran was distinguishing pretty clearly between the different nature of authority inside Iran. There is a reformist elected government and there is also other parts of the government which are not elected which exercise strong control over the security and defense apparatus.

SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you.

FOREIGN SECRETARY STRAW: Thank you very much.

QUESTION: Secretary Powell, could you try and clear something up? There seems to be some confusion about what happened in your meeting with King Abdullah this morning. Can you say whether -- are you convinced that Jordan shares your belief that Arafat needs to be put under more pressure to take action against --

SECRETARY POWELL: Don't let me speak for --

QUESTION: No, no, I don't want you to speak for him.

SECRETARY POWELL: I don't know what confusion there was in the meeting, but right now I've got to get to the Chancellor Schroeder meeting.

Released on January 31, 2002