The United States will do everything it can to help Afghanistan recover from two decades of devastating conflict, Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell vowed today.
Two months after US firepower ousted the Taliban regime from power, Mr Powell flew in under extremely tight security for a brief but historic visit.
|
|
Mr Hamid Karzai
|
He brought with him a reassuring message for the country's interim government.
"We will be with you in this current crisis and in the future," Mr Powell, the highest US official to visit Afghanistan in quarter of a century, said after meeting interim president Mr Hamid Karzai.
"We are committed to doing everything we can to assist you in this time of transition... so the Afghan people will be able to live in peace and security," he said.
Mr Karzai, standing beside Mr Powell at Kabul's presidential palace, welcomed Mr Powell with open arms, describing him as a "distinguished world personality, a very tough solider and a top diplomat and an excellent human being."
He praised Mr Powell for taking the "time to visit Afghanistan, to visit, to take the risks to come here. The Afghan people appreciate it."
Mr Karzai said the Afghan people had questioned whether the United States would remain involved in the country even after the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's terrorist al-Qaeda network had been cleansed from the country but that Mr Powell's visit now allowed him to answer affirmatively.
|
The visit "shows to us the commitment of the United States of America... now I can tell them 'Yes', the United States is committed."
Mr Karzai said he had told Mr Powell of the extreme needs of his administration which is now in dire need of additional funds and as if to demonstrate that point joked that a power outage that hit the palace just as their joint news conference was to begin was intended as a demonstration of the problem.
Mr Powell said Washington would make a significant contribution to Afghan reconstruction at a donor's conference for the country next week in Tokyo that he will attend, but was unable to offer a specific amount although he said it would be "significant."
He arrived a day after the UN Security Council renewed sanctions against the Taliban but exempted the three-week-old interim Afghan administration, allowing the release of state assets frozen last year in an effort to force the Islamic militia to hand over bin Laden.
En route to Asia, Mr Powell said the United States, in accordance with the UN move, would shortly free up some 220 million dollars in frozen Afghan assets to help Mr Karzai's government which is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.
In Kabul, Mr Powell was unable to announce that the money had been freed up, but said he still expected it to be in "a matter of days."
AFP