The former first lady, who was in Afghanistan along with Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., on a whistlestop tour to spend Thanksgiving with U.S. troops, said her country is impressed by the course Afghan President Hamid Karzai is taking his country, and determined to stand with him. "I am very impressed by the resolve of the Afghan government, President Karzai in particular," Clinton said after a meeting with Karzai at the presidential palace.
She spoke in a room at the palace still pocked by decades of conflict. Two windows behind Clinton had bullet holes in them.
Clinton said Washington is concerned about a recent spate of attacks, especially in the south and east of the country. Suspected Taliban and al-Qaida have launched a ferocious campaign against aid workers, Afghan government employees and soldiers. More than a dozen aid workers have been killed this year, most recently a 29-year-old French woman working with the U.N. refugee agency, who was gunned down in broad daylight earlier this month south of the capital. The killing has forced the United Nations and several aid agencies to pull international staffers out of large swaths of the country.
"The U.S. is resolved to stand as a strong partner and to ensure that the terrorists, whoever they are, wherever they come from, will be dealt with," Clinton said. [Since when does the Hildebeaste speak for the U.S.?] "The message should be: The Taliban terrorists are fighting a losing battle."
Clinton and Reed, who once served as a U.S. Army paratrooper, later sat down for a Thanksgiving dinner with U.S. troops at Bagram Air Base, just north of the capital, eating turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie with a smattering of selected soldiers. Several soldiers said they were excited about the visit.
"I have a lot of respect for her as a woman," said Staff Sgt. Tamecha Moore, 31, from Hampstead, New York. "I hope she runs for president." Clinton has said she has no intention to run for president in the 2004 elections. The two senators have been critical of the Bush dministration's handling of post-combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Clinton, who represents New York state, was to meet at Bagram with members of the 10th Mountain Division, which is based in Fort Drum, N.Y. Before the meeting with Karzai, the senator also met with a small group of Afghan women as she continues to stress the need to include women in the nation-building process.
The two senators were later traveling to Iraq. Reed, who was making his second visits to Afghanistan and Iraq, said he looked forward to hearing from the troops about how their missions were going. Bagram Air Base, just north of Kabul, is home to most of the 11,600 coalition forces in Afghanistan. An additional 5,500 international peacekeepers patrol the capital. .... "I am looking forward to sitting down at the table with troops over Thanksgiving dinner to hear, directly from them, about the excellent work they are doing in Afghanistan," Clinton said. "I also want to convey to them that the American people are fully behind them as they carry out a very difficult task."