President Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai hold a joint news conference, Monday, May 23, 2005, in the East Room of the White House. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
Bush rebuffs Karzai's request on troops
Posted on Mon, May. 23, 2005
JENNIFER LOVEN Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush said Monday that U.S. troops in Afghanistan will remain under U.S. control despite Afghan President Hamid Karzai's request for more authority over them.
"Of course, our troops will respond to U.S. commanders," Bush said, with Karzai standing at his side at the White House. At the same time, Bush said the relationship between Washington and Kabul is "to cooperate and consult" on military operations.
There are about 20,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, costing about $1 billion a month. That is in addition to approximately 8,200 troops from NATO countries in Kabul and elsewhere.
Bush also said that Afghan prisoners under U.S. control in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and elsewhere, would be slowly returned to their home countries.
"We will do this over time," he said. "We have to make sure the facilities are there."
Bush had high praise for Karzai as a valued anti-terror partner and credited the Afghan leader with "showing countries in the neighborhood what's possible."
Karzai thanked Bush for helping to put his country on the path to democracy. But he also came to their meeting with a long list of grievances.
Karzai wants more control over U.S. military operations in his country, custody of Afghan prisoners held by the United States and more assistance in fighting opium trade.
As for the opium-heroin trade, Bush said, "I made it very clear to the president that we have got to work together to eradicate the poppy crop."
Karzai commented on recent reports of abuse of Afghan prisoners by their American captors. "We are of course sad about that," he said, speaking in fluent English. But, he added, "It does not reflect on the American people."
Similarly, a report - later retracted - in Newsweek magazine earlier this month that alleged mistreatment of the Quran by American prison guards does not reflect American values, Karzai said.
While claiming the original report was not responsible journalism, Karzai said, "Newsweek's story is not America's story. That's what we understrand in Afghanistan."
Saying that he himself had been to a mosque in Washington, Karzai noted that many thousands of Muslims are going on a daily basis to mosques in America, without incident.
The two leaders addressed reporters in the East Room of the White House.
Bush welcomed his guest as the "first democratically elected leader in the 5,000- year history of Afghanistan."
"And your leadership has been strong," Bush added.
Bush and Karzai pledged to work more closely together amid continued instability and protests in Afghanistan.
"It's important for the Afghan people to understand that we have a strategic vision about our relationship with Afghanistan," Bush said.
He said the United States and Afghanistan had signed a "strategic partnership" that establishes "regular high-level exchanges on ... economic issues of mutual interest. "
"We will consult with Afghanistan if it perceives its territorial integrity, independence or security is at risk," Bush said.
Karzai said that he hoped Afghanistan would be free of opium poppy crops within five to six years and that Afghan farmers could find alternative crops like honeydew melons and pomegranates.
Opium poppies are the raw material for heroin. Their cultivation has rocketed since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Last year, cultivation reached a record 323,700 acres, yielding nearly 80 percent of world supply.
"Indeed, Afghanistan is suffering from the cultivation of poppies, which is undermining our economy," Karzai said. "It's giving us a bad name, worst of all."
Ahead of their meeting, Karzai said that he wanted more control of U.S. forces in his country and to take over custody of the hundreds of Afghans detained in military jails in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during and after the 2001 U.S. invasion that ousted the repressive Taliban regime.
Karzai began his U.S. stay by sharply denying a reported State Department cable that said he has not worked strongly enough to curtail production of opium, the raw material for heroin. The cable, from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said the U.S. crackdown there has not been very effective, in part because Karzai "has been unwilling to assert strong leadership," The New York Times reported Sunday.
Recent anti-American protests across Afghanistan killed at least 15 people and threatened a security crisis for Karzai's feeble central government.
The White House blamed the May 9 Newsweek report for igniting the violence.
U.S. President George W. Bush shakes hands after a joint press availability with the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai (L), in the East Room at the White House in Washington May 23, 2005. REUTERS/Shaun Heasley
President Welcomes Afghan President Karzai to the White House
U.S. first lady Laura Bush, right, is given a tour of the pyramids of Giza by egyptologist Dr. Zahi Hawass on Monday, May 23, 2005 in GIza, Egypt. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Mrs. Bush endorses Mubarak election plan
Posted on Mon, May. 23, 2005
NEDRA PICKLER Associated Press
GIZA, Egypt - First lady Laura Bush on Monday endorsed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's plan for presidential elections as "bold and wise" despite complaints from opposition groups that the voting is designed to keep Mubarak in power.
"I would say that President Mubarak has taken a very bold step. He's taking the first step to open up the elections and I think that's very, very important," Mrs. Bush said. She spent a day in Egypt, much of the time with Egyptian first lady Suzanne Mubarak.
Speaking to reporters in front of the Giza pyramids, Mrs. Bush noted that the United States' democracy also took time to fully develop.
"As you know, you have to be slow as you do each of these steps," Mrs. Bush said. "You know that each step is a small step, that you can't be quick."
Egyptians are deciding in a referendum whether to accept changes to the constitution that would allow for the country's first multi-candidate presidential election in September. Mubarak, Egypt's president for 24 years, has been regularly re-installed in yes-no referendums in which his name is the only one on the ballot. He hasn't formally announced he will run again but is widely expected to do so.
Opponents say the new system is being set up to ensure Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party still controls the election outcome.
Last week, the White House said President Bush supports Mubarak's plan to hold free and competitive elections for president and urged Egypt to allow for full campaigning as well as international observers.
Winding up her five-day trip to the Middle East, Mrs. Bush echoed her husband's praise of the Egyptian leader.
"I think he's been very bold and wise to take the first step," she said.
Earlier Monday, Mrs. Bush said she was not surprised to encounter protesters over the weekend during her tour of Mideast holy sites and pledged the United States will do all it can to help resolve age-old conflicts.
"As we all know, this is a place of very high tensions and high emotions," the first lady said while standing in the garden courtyard of the Church of the Resurrection in Abu Ghosh, Israel, a predominantly Muslim town where some believe Jesus appeared on Easter. "And you can understand why when you see the people with a deep and sincere faith in their religion all living side by side."
Mrs. Bush visited sites sacred to all three major religions born in the region. As she toured the 12th century church, nuns and monks sang Psalm 150 in Hebrew as a symbol of the religious cultures coexisting in the region.
President Bush talked with his wife by telephone Monday and she told him the trip was going well, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. McClellan dismissed the protests as "a little commotion" and said the demonstrators were few although they got a lot of coverage.
From Israel, Mrs. Bush traveled to Cairo, where she met with Mrs. Mubarak at Ittihadiyya Palace. The two women then taped a segment for "Alam Simsim," the Egyptian version of "Sesame Street," with a peach-colored puppet named Khokha. "Mama Suzanne" and "Auntie Laura," as Khokha called the first ladies, talked about the importance of reading to children.
US First Lady Laura Bush chats with Egyptian Sesame Street character Khokha before a segment taping at Alam Simsim Studio in Giza, just south of Cairo.(AFP/Jim Watson)
U.S. first lady Laura Bush (L) and Egypt's first lady Suzanne Mubarak tour the set of 'Alam Simsim', the Egyptian version of the popular U.S. children's show 'Sesame Street' in Cairo, Egypt May 23, 2005. U.S. first lady Bush is on a Middle East tour to counter anti-U.S. sentiment in the region. REUTERS/Hasan Jamali/Pool
Mrs. Bush's low-key travels Monday were in contrast to her stops Sunday at sites sacred to Muslims and Jews.
Asked about the protests during an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," Mrs. Bush said she understands resentments that have been built up, in part because of reports and pictures of prisoner abuse.
"I know from visiting Afghanistan ... that many, many people are glad our troops are there, that we are giving them a chance to rebuild their country," she said. "All of us, everyone ... deplore the photographs that we've seen, the reports that we've heard of prisoner abuse, but that's not really not what happens (with U.S. forces) ... This is a handful of people."
She said she feels that the American presence in the Middle East and Southwest Asia "is really wanted and is needed" to ensure nation-building and peacemaking.
Asked on NBC's "Today" show if she had felt endangered during the tours in the Middle East, the first lady replied, "No, I did not at all. I think maybe the reports that you all have seen have been slightly exaggerated. ... I have never felt at all unsafe."
Mrs. Bush's five-day visit was intended partly to help defuse anti-American sentiment in the region. Strains have arisen because of the U.S.-led war in Iraq and allegations that American interrogators have mistreated Muslim prisoners.
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