WEYMOUTH: What do you hope to accomplish during your visit to the United States? KARZAI: I’m coming to the U.S. to go to New York to take flowers to the Twin Towers and tell the American people that we have tremendous sympathy for them. The U.S. has already helped us by announcing $296 million of help to Afghanistan, so basically this is a sentimental trip.
Did you know how dangerous Al Qaeda was [before September 11]? The Afghans that I used to meet outside of the country used to tell me that I was underestimating these people. I would tell them, “You are cowards, you have lost heart.” But I found out that those people were right and I was wrong. I am glad we got help to defeat them.
What is your vision for the future of Afghanistan? Most important of all, I want to be on time in convening the Afghan Loya Jirga, that traditional council of Afghanistan, five months from now. That body will be composed of over 500 people. They will get together and decide on a leader and a government for Afghanistan in the transitional period.
Would you like to be chosen as the leader? If the Loya Jirga chooses me as the leader of Afghanistan during the transitional period, I will be honored. If they choose someone else, I will respect the decision.
Are you going to ask the U.S. administration for support in extending the international security force to areas outside Kabul? All the delegations I’ve received from the countryside have asked me to send the security force all over the country, and I don’t see why not.
How do you intend to defeat the remnants of Al Qaeda? We will keep working against them, together with the U.S. and other allied forces. That war will go on relentlessly. We will try to make sure that we seek them out from their caves and put them on trial. I would like the TV cameras to show their faces to the American and the Afghan people, so that our people and yours will get a sense that justice is being done.
Do you think that Osama bin Laden is still in your country? Well, if he is in Afghanistan we will find him eventually.
Where is Mullah Omar, the former Taliban leader? Last week some of our groups were looking for him in a part of Afghanistan.
Are you worried about continuing interference in Afghanistan’s affairs by Pakistan and Iran? The president of Pakistan congratulated me, and we have spoken three or four times since then. I have also spoken to [Iranian] President Khatami. I hope our neighbors recognize that interference will not bring anything except the spread of terrorism and radicalism in the region.
Do you intend to restore the rights of women? Sure, they are half of our society.
People in the United States were shocked at the way the Taliban treated women. They treated them horribly. They treated all of mankind in a most disastrous manner.
Do you fear that the United States will desert Afghanistan? Not at this point.
