Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry Press Conference May 20, 2009
TRANSCRIPT
Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry
Kabul, Afghanistan
May 20, 2009
AMBASSADOR EIKENBERRY: Before we get started here, I apologize for keeping you waiting. I just came from an agricultural fair in the suburbs of Kabul. It was one of the most uplifting experiences that I have ever had. Just talking to a lot of business entrepreneurs and farmers; companies that are hiring 300 people, 500 people; selling their products around Afghanistan. It was really remarkable. But you didn’t come to hear about the agricultural fair.
But seriously, I would encourage you to go out there. What you see out there at that agricultural fair, it’s the outlines of a good Afghan future.
Secondly, with apologies, I’ll only be able to spend 30 minutes with you today because of some scheduling challenges that we have. I hope the lunch that we provided was adequate, and I hope they saved one meal for me. [Laughter].
What I thought I’d do is just read some opening comments and then I’d like to hear your comments right away.
Thank you for coming here today. I would like to talk to you about yesterday’s trip to the province of Farah with President Karzai.
As you know, our President and our Secretary of State of the United States have both expressed their condolences on behalf of the United States for the tragic loss of life that occurred in Bala Baluk. As President Karzai did state yesterday, and as I also stated yesterday, together, this incident began with your brave police and your brave army soldiers supported by American soldiers fighting the Taliban. But this fighting ended in a terribly tragic way with the loss of civilian lives in addition to your policemen who were killed, your police, your soldiers, and Americans who were wounded.
I wanted to make three points on what can be done, what must be done to reduce the price the civilians of Afghanistan are paying for the fighting.
First of all, we have to improve our approach, our approach as partners – Afghanistan and the United States and the international military forces. We cannot have outcomes in which tactical victories are strategic failures.
Secondly, we have to continue to improve our intelligence sharing, our information exchanges, and our communications between international military forces, coalition military forces, and Afghanistan’s own forces – your army, your police.
Third, and perhaps most important, we really have to work together as partners to accelerate the development and the strengthening of your Afghan National Police and your Afghan National Army so that Afghan forces, your forces, can more quickly take responsibility for the security of you, for the security of the people of Afghanistan. Here I would call upon all Afghans within the government and the people of Afghanistan to redouble your efforts to support the building of a strong army and a strong police force of Afghanistan that serve the people and respect the rule of law.
I wish to assure the people of Afghanistan that the United States will work tirelessly with your government, with your army and with your police to make every effort to try to avoid harm to civilians such as occurred at Bala Baluk.
Lastly, President Karzai did announce in Farah yesterday that the Afghan government would assist in rebuilding the homes and the buildings that were damaged or destroyed during the righting and the bombing. And I do wish to announce, as I did, and I’ll reiterate what I said to the people in Farah yesterday, that the United States will support your government’s pledge made yesterday.
I’d be happy to take your questions.
QUESTION: There have been civilian casualties for a long time in Afghanistan. What specific measures or mechanisms have you taken in order to minimize or avoid civilian casualties? Have you taken any [inaudible] up to now?
The second question is about Khalilzad who will assume allegedly an executive power in Afghanistan. How do you comment on that?
AMBASSADOR EIKENBERRY: Let me take your first question with regard to civilian casualties. Rabal, it’s good to see you again. I know in the years past we’ve traveled to many provinces of Afghanistan together.
There has been a good amount of work. There’s been very careful efforts that have been made with each year, with each month that the international forces are serving in Afghanistan with the United States military forces in Afghanistan. There’s been steady work that’s been done, and serious work, to make efforts to reduce the suffering that civilians face because of the conflict and insecurity in Afghanistan.
First of all, I mentioned the need to improve intelligence sharing and communications. Indeed, we are much more effective. We, Afghanistan, international military forces, coalition forces, we are much more effective in our intelligence sharing and our communications than we were several years ago.
Second, I talked about the tactics or the rules by which the international military forces operate together with the Afghan National Police and the Afghan National Army. There have been very clear instructions which have been issued to the forces about searches of homes. There’s been very clear instructions which have been issued about efforts to minimize civilian casualties. And those rules have been adhered to very carefully by the NATO forces. They’ve been adhered to very closely by the United States forces, but it’s also clear that we’ve reached a stage in which still yet we have to review the tactics which are being used.
The other point I had made about the need to work together to help strengthen your police and your army, I leave that question to you to make an assessment compared to maybe five years ago. Is your army stronger? Are they more capable now of completing missions on their own and taking charge of security? And what about the police?
My own opinion is in the case of the army, yes, very clearly. I know the police need much more work. But that’s entirely a question for the Afghan people to answer.
Having been here in your country, as you know, for the first time in 2002 when there was no Afghan National Army at all, out in the Kabul Military Training Center there was only destroyed buildings. As I come here today with about 80,000 Afghan National Army in the field, I would think I would know what the answer from the Afghan people might be.
But Rabal I need to make one other point very firmly, too. You asked the question, what are we doing to try to reduce civilian casualties, what is the United States, what is NATO trying to do to reduce civilian casualties. We are working very hard and we’re taking this very seriously. It is a commitment.
We also have to ask the question about the enemy of Afghanistan. The enemy of Afghanistan some time ago, in recent weeks, attacked Khost with 11 suicide bombers, indiscriminately slaughtering civilians. President Karzai yesterday in Farah was very clear. He said the enemies of Afghanistan are attacking your schools. The enemies of Afghanistan are attacking your health clinics. They’re attacking your roads. President Karzai was very clear yesterday to the people of Farah, the enemies of Afghanistan take acid and he said they throw it in the face of young school girls.
So what I would say to you and what President Karzai said yesterday is we’re allies, we’re partners in common cause. This is very difficult work to try to find the right ways to operate together, but we are allies and we are partners. The enemy of Afghanistan is somebody very different. That enemy of Afghanistan is a very evil enemy of Afghanistan and President Karzai was very clear about that at Farah yesterday.
I said when I came here that I’d just come from an agricultural fair outside of Kabul where we were talking about hundreds and hundreds of thousands of farmers and shepherds and businessmen who are benefiting from partnership with the international community very proudly, partnership with the United States to build a future for Afghanistan. I was proud to be at that exhibition as a co-sponsor with the government of Afghanistan, and what I saw at that exhibition was friends together. I did not see any enemies of Afghanistan because they fear the progress that is being made in any sector in Afghanistan right now. But we pledge, again, to do better. We have to – to come back to the visit to Farah yesterday, we together, and we pledge to do better in finding ways to reduce civilian suffering with the fighting that’s going on in your country. Even as we move to find more effectively ways to help secure the people of Afghanistan with your own security forces, with your army and police, even as we find ways to redouble our efforts to bring development and more prosperity to your country.
With regard to your second question, Rabal, very simply, he’s a private citizen and you should ask him.
QUESTION: Maybe you know that following the civilian casualties in Farah province, those who are responsible for civilian deaths in Farah must be held accountable. Do you support this?
Second, do you have the official figure of civilian casualties in Farah province?
AMBASSADOR EIKENBERRY: I have not seen the UNAMA statement.
I’m sorry, the second question that you – the official figure.
No, and I don’t think that the exact number of civilians who were killed and wounded will ever be known.
QUESTION: Can you estimate?
AMBASSADOR EIKENBERRY: No, I would not estimate. We will never know the exact number. What’s important is to learn the lessons from Bala Baluk and work harder to work more effectively to ensure that we don’t have numbers of civilians who are being killed and wounded in the fighting of Afghanistan. That’s important now, that we look forward and learn from this.
QUESTION: It is exactly those who were responsible for civilian deaths in Farah Province. What do you think? Should they, for example, be held accountable or not?
AMBASSADOR EIKENBERRY: I’m not sure when you say those accountable for civilian deaths, what –
QUESTION: – international. No matter.
AMBASSADOR EIKENBERRY: In the fighting that occurs – in conflict, in fighting that is going on in your country, of course every one in the Afghan National Army, the Afghan National Police, your government, our military forces, we continue to review each and every kind of event, each and every kind of tragedy which occurs in which civilians are injured or killed.
QUESTION: This question again is about civilian casualties. As you know, civilian casualties have created a gap between the government and the national [inaudible] public and caused dissatisfaction and mistrust of the people. In the past NATO has come up with a strategy in order to minimize civilian casualties but that didn’t work. What is it that you work together with Afghan government in partnership to minimize civilian casualties and try not to harm civilians? How much trust you have on these things? How much you [inaudible] that these things, civilian casualties will not take place in the future as you became the new U.S. ambassador.
AMBASSADOR EIKENBERRY: That’s a very good question. First of all let me emphasize that I’m the United States ambassador so I don’t speak for NATO, although the United States is very proud of its service within NATO and its contributions within the overall NATO force.
I think that further improvements can and will be made in the way that we operate with your national security forces, with your army and police. Again, the so-called tactics, how do we operate. And I’m optimistic with the excellent progress that your Afghan National Army is making under the leadership of Minister of Defense Rahim Wardak and Chief of Defense Bismullah Khan, that we can see over the next several years in many areas of Afghanistan, in more areas of Afghanistan where your national army is planning their operations and conducting their operations with the coalition and with NATO supporting and not with the coalition and NATO leading.
But at the end this will remain a very difficult problem, a very difficult challenge for your army and police and for our own forces.
Again, the situation at Bala Baluk that I had talked about when I gave the few remarks at the opening, this whole battle began at around noon and the battle began when your police forces and your army forces, with limited support from the Americans, got into a very intense battle in the villages around Bala Baluk. A very intense battle that had at least 100 Taliban fighters, perhaps more. And five of your police were killed. You had police and Afghan National Army and an American soldier wounded, a marine wounded in the fighting. The Taliban was occupying the village. There’s no question about that.
So it had a tragic ending, but this will remain a very difficult problem. Still, we can do better with the way that we operate and we will.
QUESTION: What kind of assistance [inaudible]?
AMBASSADOR EIKENBERRY: President Karzai yesterday at Farah said that he would provide money for the rebuilding of any of the houses or any of the other buildings, any of the other structures which were damaged or destroyed as a result of the fighting and the bombing. We pledged to take your government’s commitment and we will be the ones to fulfill that pledge. It does not do anything to relieve the suffering and the pain that the families who had losses in their village due to the fighting and the bombing, that does nothing to reduce their pain and suffering, but it’s something small that we felt could at least try to express the condolences which we feel.
I’m sorry that I didn’t have any more time today with you, and I look forward in the weeks and the months ahead to spending more time with you here in Kabul, and very importantly, opportunities to travel around the country if you’d ever like to go.
I said yesterday when somebody asked the question about the way ahead, a question was asked can we do better. I said that we must do better, we will do better. But in the end, we’re not perfect. I think to use an American expression, I believe very firmly that we are the good guys. We’re not the perfect guys, but we are the good guys. President Karzai was very clear yesterday in Farah who the bad guys are. The bad guys throw acid in the face of school girls, the bad guys kill teachers in front of their students. So we’re not the perfect guys, but I believe sincerely in my heart we’re the good guys and we’re your friends.
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