Deputy Ambassador Frank Ricciardone
Press Conference
Kabul, Afghanistan
April 13, 2009
Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone: Shah Raghlast. Ba Safarat Amrika Khosh Amadid. That’s all the Dari I know. [Laughter]. And that’s all the Pashtu I’ve learned. But I promise you after a few months, please come back and give me a test and at least on the Dari side I will try to have learned some more. Perhaps you will help to teach me.
Let me start by way of introduction. You honor us with your visit to this embassy. It’s a privilege to see you all here. I have several purposes in inviting you today. The first purpose is for me to learn more about the Afghan media -- print and electronic -- and to introduce myself to you so you can know me personally. And the second one is to begin a conversation with the people of Afghanistan.
I should underline when I say the people of Afghanistan I mean all the people of Afghanistan and not the half of the people of Afghanistan who are like all of us, males. So for that reason I want you to also get to know and to meet my wife Marie. Together we are the parents of two daughters, so whenever I speak with the public I am conscious of addressing not only our side of the house but also the women’s side which is, in my house, the dominant side. [Laughter]. We will take time in the future, my wife is a scientist, a PhD, a molecular biologist, and she is working with USAID.
Again if I may, speaking personally, it is truly a pleasure for us both to come back to Afghanistan after more than 30 years. We came here, my wife and I, in Nowruz of 1977 with my long hair, my beard, and my backpack, and we visited Afghanistan from Iran. We were teaching school together in Iran for those two years, the last two years of the Shah. We visited from Herat, all overland, from Herat to Kandahar to Kabul to Bamian to Kunduz where we saw Band-I Amir and too beautiful photographs, and we stayed in the home of an Afghan family. Everywhere we went we found warm, friendly, hospitable, kind people. And we saw beautiful mountains, beautiful desert, and ancient sites. We recall many of them very specifically in Herat, in Bamian and here in Kabul in particular. So for that reason on a personal level in addition to an official level, we were both very happy to come back, to be assigned back to Afghanistan. When Ambassador Holbrooke offered me the appointment on behalf of the Secretary of State and President Obama, I was very happy to come back.
So thank you for receiving us again.
I know you want to speak about the important news of the day so let me start with one of the most important things, and that is cricket and the win over the Irish [laughter]. It’s a wonderful thing, and I lead with that for a particular reason. The reason is I am personally very confident and optimistic about Afghanistan and its future. There are terrible problems, a difficult recent history. Very sad things are happening too. But the source of your strength, your people, is there. It exists and it is strong and we are very proud as The United States of America to be working with you. You can succeed and win at cricket and you can succeed and win at every other thing you wish to do and you dream of doing.
Let me talk about foreign policy in that context. We have provided you copies of two very important statements by our President which serve as our instructions at this embassy. The first one was released at the White House on Friday, March 27th. I was present for that. That was when President Obama announced to the world our new approach, our plan, our concept for engaging with the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The second one is President Obama’s words in Turkey just last week. In that speech he used two words that I’ll say to you in English, and I know the Arabic which I think is the same in Dari and Pashtu. These two words I hope you will find, have always been the basis of our embassy’s dealing with you, the media, and with you, the people of Afghanistan, and I promise you they will be the basis of our engagement with you, the media, and you the people of Afghanistan from today forward. And Feroz, you can tell me if I get this right, but at least in Arabic and I think in Dari it would be Ehterahm-e-Mutaabel. Mutual respect. In everything we do. In all our engagements.
Let me move forward then to some topics I can anticipate and then I will invite from you not only questions, but I invite you please to give me comments on things you wish me to know as a newly returned friend of Afghanistan; things you wish me to understand in the way we do business with each other, or in the way you, the media or the people of Afghanistan would like us at this embassy to proceed in the next several years that I hope to be here with you.
I know you are all interested in the election campaign and in the American outlook on your politics, so let me address that question first if I may.
Within the American embassy and in speaking with Ambassador Holbrooke, the Secretary in Washington, you know we have been paying much attention to your political questions and the question of your democratic choice of a government from this spring through this coming summer. I know because my Afghan friends have asked me, every one is wondering who is the American candidate? Who have the Americans chosen? Am I correct? I will tell you, there is one American candidate and we are not neutral. The candidate of the United States is, tell me if I pronounce it correctly, Mashroyat. Legitimacy. The most important thing for the United States is that everyone in Afghanistan believes in his heart that on August 21st the elections that were just held represent the voice of the people of Afghanistan and not of the United States or Iran or Russia or Pakistan or anyone else. Speaking very seriously, I will state emphatically what Ambassador Holbrooke said here when he visited last week: We will neither support nor oppose any of the legitimate candidates for President in your election campaign. What we will support is every action by your government, by the candidates including the opposition candidates, by your civil society, by the United States, by the independent election commission. We will support all activities as actively as we can and as is appropriate within your law to help you get that result of a legitimate, transparent, fair, free, open election.
In that context each of you, every one of you around this table has a very important role to play not only as citizens, not only as voters, but professionally as members of the media, as people who will conduct this conversation on behalf of the people of Afghanistan with the candidates, and with the international community including diplomats like me.
Why don’t I stop speaking there and invite you to either ask me things you wish to ask or tell me things you want me to understand.
Radio Azadi: You state that the United States will not support any of the candidates, but there are some reports that the United States is trying to find a strong candidate or contender among these candidates. For this purpose today we have come to the United States Embassy in Kabul. You invited some of the contenders for example, Dr. Abdullah, Ashraf Ghani and others, and encouraged them to leave their candidacies and to support one. This was in our today’s headlines. So how you can say the United States is not supporting any of the candidates?
Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone: Thank you very much for that good question.
As I mentioned, we do support one candidate and that candidate is legitimacy of these elections. We have spoken on the basis of mutual respect with President Karzai. He understands, and indeed he welcomes and encourages us to support free and fair and open elections and active campaigning by all of his opponents.
Each of our visitors in my less than two weeks here has discussed these issues with President Karzai and each of the visitors -- Ambassador Holbrooke, Senator Kyle, Congresswoman Tsongas, our minority leader, Senator McConnell and his group of Republicans, from the opposition party to President Obama, have come to this country. They’ve asked to pay a call, pay their respects on President Karzai, and they have asked to meet the opposition candidates, to pay their respects to them too.
It is our view that the stronger the election campaign, the more credible it will be between two, three, four, five, whatever number of really serious opponents. The results will be stronger. When one candidate emerges through your process, either on August 20th or in a runoff, if it was a good strong non-violent, peaceful but strongly engaging campaign, Afghanistan and Afghanistan’s democracy will be stronger, not weaker, come October or November.
As your friends, our role as the United States and other countries that are friends of Afghanistan feel the same way, our role is to support you, support all of you from Herat to Kabul, from Mazar to Kandahar, in having a strong, free, fair, open campaign and conduct of the polling in a secure environment. And we will try to help your Ministry of Interior and your Army provide for the security of the candidates and of the voters and of the foreigners who come to observe and celebrate with you this important exercise in your democracy.
Did that respond adequately?
Radio Azadi: I’m sorry. I think I need some more. Did you accept those reports the United States is encouraging the other contenders to leave their candidacy in favor of one or not?
Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone: Not. No, absolutely not. Without hesitation. We are not hinting, ordering, directing, suggesting directly or indirectly that one candidate should step back and leave room for another. That one candidate should take the lead. We have neither the authority nor the responsibility nor the expertise nor the interest in manipulating your politics in that way. There is no American interest served by doing that.
I will tell you the question that Ambassador Holbrooke, Senator McConnell, Congresswoman Tsongas, that I, that all of us asked the candidates, and it’s the same question I ask you now on behalf of the people of Afghanistan, and maybe you can give me advice in response to that question. The question that we asked of each of the opposition candidates and of President Karzai and of his ministers is the same question. That is, how can we as the United States of America, how can we as the international community of friends of Afghanistan, how can we help you conduct free and fair elections that are open and transparent and will lead to a result that all Afghans believe is their result, your result, not our result? So I ask you that question. In your view, what is appropriate? What is proper for a friend to do to help you in the most important test of any new democracy, which is not your first election, but the second election. What do you want from us? What can we do?
Media: Neutrality.
Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone: Neutrality. We got that message loud and clear from President Karzai, from the opposition, from the government. We got that message. And if you see us ever acting in a way that seems to you as journalists not neutral- ask us. Ask us why and what we are doing. Ask Feroz. Ask Fleur. Twenty-four hours. You have our phone numbers. Twenty-four hours. On a Friday, any day. Ask us.
Hasht-e-Subh: A question with two parts. You talked about neutrality and being neutral. Very simply, there are talks about the date of election in Afghanistan. According to the constitution it was May. First, President Karzai announced to hold elections in August. Then he said May. In the first case the United States supported President Karzai to go with August.
The second part is, recently the government has announced that August is a nice and a good date to conduct elections. Indeed the Supreme Court extended Karzai’s term in office.
In both cases the United States supported August. Both cases of
are of support to President Karzai. So you cannot justify that the United States is remaining neutral. What’s your comment?
Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone: Excellent question.
These were Afghan decisions taken. The first question on the delay of the elections came up last year when President Bush was in office and the United States respected the conversation that was going on in Afghanistan. We did not object and we did indeed, as you pointed out, support it because we thought that was what most Afghans through your government and through your legitimate processes desired. There were questions of expense. There were questions of the time of year, difficulty of travel. So the Bush administration accepted that and supported that.
However, when President Obama took office it was already a fait accomplis. It was a decision that had been taken, we thought, on the Afghan side. This was then something the Obama administration, and particularly Ambassador Holbrooke saw as a real problem, a difficult problem that had come up because it was a decision taken that did not accord with your constitutional requirements. So we recognized the problem but we saw the decision had been more or less taken.
So when the Obama administration took office at the end of January we studied the situation very carefully in Afghanistan. President Obama directed his government to study all the previous reviews of our policy and programs in Afghanistan and directed that we report to him before the end of March. We addressed this question as well as others.
We found when President Obama took office this question had arisen, and after careful study it seemed to us too late to change a decision that had been taken in Afghanistan. We couldn’t do anything about it at that time. So we decided to support the decision that was taken by President Karzai, the IEC, addressed by your courts, addressed by your parliament, which seemed to represent the consensus of the Afghan people.
Our interest, America’s interest, our fundamental strategic interest is your fundamental strategic interest as we understand, and that is stability. So for the sake of stability we accepted what we understood to be your decision and we supported it. For the same reasons we supported the interim, the question of President Karzai, the extension of President Karzai’s term. We listen to Afghans through your media and in direct contact with your politicians including the opposition. We listen to you. We listen carefully. The emerging consensus seemed to be there’s no good answer but the least bad answer given this constitutional exception is to have President Karzai stay in office until a new President is elected or until he is reelected. Again, we understood this was an Afghan solution to an Afghan problem and we supported it for the sake of peace and stability and a legitimate election when it finally happens in August.
Hasht-e-Subh: The same thing is said by the Afghan parliament, by Afghan opposition leaders or candidates, possible or potential candidates. They are saying that if Karzai remains in office after May, there is very little possibility of legitimate and fair elections in Afghanistan. No potential candidate agrees with the delay, with Karzai’s term in office. Others are all opposed.
Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone: From what we can tell the question, there are three big questions and the first two have been settled more or less to the satisfaction of the people of Afghanistan and therefore to us. The question of the delay of the elections to August and the question of what to do between May 22nd and after that election.
There are people who disagree. I understand that, I respect that. But the parliament we believe has spoken, the Supreme Court has spoken. The consensus, not 100 percent agreement, but the consensus, the majority opinion of Afghans from what we can see is that those two questions are settled and now the big question is the one you put your finger on. The big question is how to have free and fair elections when in any democracy, including mine, the incumbent has many advantages over the challenger. So you put your finger on the question we must face now and that’s the third question that is very open.
Tolo TV: Ambassador Holbrooke described Afghanistan and Karzai’s government as a narco-state and a corrupt government. If you think or assume that President Karzai wins the election in the second term, will the United States still support President Karzai as a president?
Second, as a new diplomat, what’s your position or what do you think about Pakistan?
Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone: On the second question first, I believe that the problems of Afghanistan, the problem of peace, security for the people of Afghanistan, and the prosperity that you deserve and that you want which can only happen if you have security and peace, I believe all of those things will be possible only if the situation in Pakistan likewise will be much improved from the situation now. I believe the two countries’ future is as interlinked as is your past. You will succeed together or sadly, God forbid, will fail together.
As to your first question, the answer is the United States of America will certainly work with whoever is elected on the basis of a legitimate, free and fair election. We will have a real problem in our relationship if whoever is elected does not have the support of the Afghan people. If whoever is elected, whether President Karzai is reelected or another candidate, is not seen by the majority of the people of Afghanistan as the honest, legitimate choice of the majority. It’s okay if it’s only 51 percent and 49 percent believe it was the wrong choice. That’s what happens in our country. We have very close calls. But the 46 percent, the 45 percent who didn’t elect President Obama, for example, still accept that he was the choice of the majority and we all accept him as our President. We hope you will have the same outcome, no matter who wins.
You raise a very important question of corruption. I can tell you that has been a very important subject of conversation between all the American officials who have visited like Ambassador Holbrooke, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mullen, and the senators and congressmen who have come, in every meeting we have had in this country in my first two weeks here with President Karzai, with the opposition candidates, with civil society, with the farmers we have spoken with, with the women parliamentarians, with the ulema that we met with. In every meeting from the President to civil society, with his ministers, the question of corruption has come up and our question is always the same. How can we support Afghanistan in improving what we call governance? Not government, but governance. Effective government that will deliver services to the people whether at the national level or the local level. How can we prevent policemen from taking bribes, punish those who take bribes or oppress the people of Afghanistan? We are working with your government and your civil society to address that problem, and there is no easy answer. There is no simple, immediate answer.
In this question of corruption and how to combat it, I said there is no single answer, no simple solution. But you are part of the solution. You the people in this room, the media. If you do your job at the highest world standards, you will help to defeat corruption. You will expose cases of corruption and bring it to the attention of your people and your government and you will demand that your government pay attention. So we salute you as people who will help solve this problem.
Radio Killid: The first question is about the Shia marital law, which is controversial. The United States has advised contrary regarding this law, President Obama. And Italy has said that if this law is approved and implemented, they will withdraw their [30] female soldiers who are currently in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile there is a big majority of the people share concerns, they are supporting this law. They have come together in a gathering and expressed their support for this law.
What do think if this law is approved and implemented? What will be your final criticism or concern, or the action regarding this?
The second question is about the civilian casualties. As you might be aware recently during a coalition operation in Khost Province civilians were killed including a seven-day-old baby.
Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone: Dreadful.
Radio Killid: Do you have any specific plans to avoid civilian casualties? I think the people of Afghanistan are tired with just saying sorry and expressing regrets.
Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone: Absolutely.
The second question first because it’s the one that affects me most to my heart.
The people of Afghanistan have every right to be sick and tired of these terrible accidents. We have apologized profusely. There is no way to bring back these innocent lives. We do what little we can to accept responsibility and to try to support the family members of the victims left behind. And we put into place, we investigate very thoroughly. We try to learn lessons from every one of these accidents and put into place measures working with your forces to make sure we will not make that same mistake again.
Unfortunately, clearly we have failed too many times to prevent these accidents. And once again, we are trying to learn what we can from this awful, awful event in Khost to make sure we never repeat it. I can tell you when the top American soldier in our country came last week, Chairman Mullen, he heard the same question over and over again from the ulema, from the parliamentarians, from the farmers, from the tribal leaders. Everywhere he went he heard this. The people of Afghanistan have spoken clearly to us. We have received the message.
I can promise we will do everything we humanly can, working with your own forces to prevent this. What I cannot promise is that we will never make mistakes. We will. Let me pause there. I have a second piece of this.
Let me draw a contrast that will lead to your second question. Yesterday an Afghan citizen, woman, leader, who had been elected by her own close townsmen was brutally murdered by a terrorist. This was very different from the accidental killing by American forces working with Afghan forces to protect the Afghan people. This was a deliberate targeting of a woman. I can think of no more dishonorable event in any country than a political assassination to begin with of someone who was elected by her peers, but I think in your culture even more than in mine, when a terrorist murders a woman it’s very shameful and very outrageous. And this was not done by accident. This was not done in the dark of night by accident, shooting back at someone who was shooting. This was a woman who had no gun in her hands and she was murdered.
Where is the outrage of the media and the people of Afghanistan? I hope this is known. And we share the outrage of Afghans who are angry at this. It is to prevent this kind of thing that American forces are working with your forces. We’ve got to stop this kind of terrorism. I hope the people of Afghanistan see a big difference between people who murder, astan, we would say in Arabic, astan, on purpose, and we who come as your friends and accidentally commit a horrible mistake. One is a crime, a crime against humanity and a sin against God. The other is a terrible tragedy, but it is not done out of enmity. One is done by your enemies; the other is done by your friends who make a mistake.
I need to get back to the question of the Shiite family law.
Our concern, the worldwide reaction, it wasn’t just American reaction. It was also in large part Afghan popular reaction to this law is on the basis of this question of respect, respect for all Afghans. This requirement for the respect and the equal treatment of all Afghans is in your constitution and it’s an international law, the International Convention on Human Rights to which Afghanistan is a party. And that law, the international law and your own constitution, does not discriminate on the basis of gender.
The reason we found it so shocking and untimely was that the United States has been working exactly during the period a week ago when President Obama went to Europe, Secretary Clinton went there, to rally the friends of Afghanistan in support of peace, security, development in your country. We had been supporting Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan and the government of Afghanistan as people and the government engaged in a brave, new experiment to build a future based on democracy and equality for all citizens. And when this report came out about the law, we were shocked because it was a different face of Afghanistan. We saw the face of a people struggling for democracy and for equality and protection of the citizens, and this gave a different picture. It gave a picture that looked like the Taliban. Maybe that was a mistake, but that’s how it appeared to the United States and to people in Europe. Like our friends were trying to recreate a Taliban kind of regime that we understand the people of Afghanistan don’t want and we don’t want.
So let me explain how I hope we can resolve this.
President Karzai has explained to us that there are provisions in the law that are necessary to uphold your constitution which provides for the rights of the Shia community to regulate its civil status affairs. That is required under your constitution and an important minority of the people of Afghanistan do want to have legal authority to regulate their family and civil status affairs. We find that reasonable. We do not object. That is your law, your constitution, and you Afghans must find your own way to resolve that larger question of the right of the Shia community to regulate its own personal status issue.
At the encouragement of President Karzai, I will be visiting with high officials of your state, the Minister of Justice, perhaps Attorney General, some of your politicians. I would like the honor of meeting all of them. I will ask the honor of meeting Ayatollah Mohseni. I would be privileged to consult with them, understand the issue from their perspectives and I am sure after many conversations, we will understand what the new Afghanistan is trying to accomplish for itself. I’m sure you will find an Afghan solution to this issue that respects the rights of all your citizens under your constitution and under international law.
I’m conscious of the time, this is much longer, but I don’t want to cheat anyone of the opportunity --
Media: I have a question or two which have a one word answer. [Laughter].
Recently there are reports of negotiations or meetings between Hekmatyar representative and the United States. What do you think about this, if these negotiations take place? Will Afghan women’s rights be ignored again?
Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone: First, if there are any such, I won’t even say negotiations, even contacts, I am unaware of them. Second, if in the future there ever are, it will not be on the basis of negotiating away the rights of any Afghans. For us the issue is of reconciliation, whether with the Taliban or Hekmatyar or anyone is in the first place an Afghan question. It’s between your government representing your people and these other groups that are causing so much harm to your country. If they will agree to stop harming your people and accept the constitution of your country, then as President Obama has said, we will support the process of reconciliation. But please look at President Obama’s speech. You will see his exact words. We support reconciliation with those who are willing to accept the constitution and peace.
We are not going to make any deals with Mr. Hekmatyar or the Taliban. And we are certainly not going to suggest that peace can be won at the sacrifice of the rights of any Afghans, certainly not of Afghan women.
We’ve stayed a long time. Maybe we should save some conversation for our next meeting. I hope to be here several years with you. Perhaps we can continue later.
Thank you.
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