Remarks by President Bush and President Karzai of the Islamic Government of Afghanistan
United States Mission
12:13 P.M. EDT
PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. President, it's great to see you again. Thank
you for your leadership. We also appreciate your understanding that
jobs are important for your country. And today I had the honor of
informing President Karzai that the United States, along with Saudi
Arabia and Japan, will be providing $180 million for road improvement
projects in Afghanistan. We'll help develop a modern infrastructure so
that the Afghan entrepreneur will be able to move product from one city
to the next, and so that people will be able to find work, they'll be
able to put food on the table.
Our commitment to a stable and free and peaceful Afghanistan is a
long-term commitment, Mr. President, and we're confident in your
leadership. And I want to thank you again. It's good to see you
again.
PRESIDENT KARZAI: Good to see you.
Well, Mr. President, I'm very happy to be meeting with you again,
after the meeting in January. We are, as before, very, very grateful
for the help the United States of America gave to Afghanistan to
liberate itself from the scourge from the occupation of terrorism that
murdered and killed and destroyed our country for so many years; that
brought about the disaster in New York and your own country. The
Afghan people continue to share that pain with you. And I came here
earlier than the General Assembly to participate, to mourn that date.
And we've had a commemoration of that in Kabul, as well, yesterday.
The Afghan people know the help that you have given to us, and the
Afghan people will know the announcement that you've just made.
They'll be very happy. Mr. President, I assure you that you will find
the Afghan people as your very best partners in the fight against
terrorism, and as your very best partners wherever you bring justice in
this part of the world, we'll be with you. The Afghan people, as you
rightly say, would like to have some bread on their table, and they
would also like to, in some time, to make that bread themselves. To
earn it themselves.
So the help that you are giving us to have our highways, to have
other infrastructure correct in the country is a step in the right
direction towards self-reliance in Afghanistan. And I must thank you
very much once again.