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01-27-2006, 08:21 PM
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Afghan leader: foreign troops may be needed 10 years
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DAVOS, Switzerland - Afghanistan may need foreign troops for another 5-10 years to combat terrorism and insurgents, President Hamid Karzai said on Friday.
Karzai said his government was constructing jails to get some 100 Afghans back from U.S. prisons in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which houses about 500 inmates. The construction, he said, would take about two years.
"When the Afghans leave that facility, it's none of our business what happens there," he said in answer to queries about prisoners kept in detention for years without charges.
He was speaking to journalists at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.
After the September 11 attacks, U.S.-led forces overthrew the ruling Taliban for harboring Osama bin Laden, whose al Qaeda network was blamed for the carnage.
But Karzai insisted bin Laden was not on the Afghanistan side of the border with Pakistan. "Osama bin Laden is not in Afghanistan. As to where he is, I don't know."
Karzai welcomed the announcement that Britain would send another 3,300 troops to his country. But he estimated it would take "between 5 and 10 years" before foreign soldiers would no longer be needed.
STRONG INSTITUTIONS
"We have an army, we have a police force," he said. "Our armed forces have to turn into strong institutions to be able to defend the country and maintain internal stability."
He said this would take some times because "numbers and equipment do not alone make institutions." The Afghan government has about 33,000 soldiers.
NATO has fielded 9,000 troops across Kabul, the north and the west and decided last month to move into Taliban strongholds in the south with another 6,000. In addition, the United States has a force of 19,000, which hunts down insurgents.
Karzai spoke before a conference in London on Afghanistan, which he said would also obligate Kabul to institute a variety of reforms.
The two-day international meeting, beginning on Tuesday, is to launch a five-year blue print on development, peace and how best to confront the continuing attacks by government opponents in the impoverished central Asian nation.
"Afghanistan has certain responsibilities in terms of reform, the fight against drugs...and the international community has the responsibility in helping us fulfil these objectives," Karzai said.
Karzai will co-chairing the London meeting along with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. It is designed as a follow-up to a U.N.-led meeting in Bonn, Germany, which set the political course for Afghanistan in December 2001 after the ousting of the Taliban.
Copyright 2006 ******* News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures
Well yeah, it wasn't going to be that easy
Afghan leader: foreign troops may be needed 10 years
*******
DAVOS, Switzerland - Afghanistan may need foreign troops for another 5-10 years to combat terrorism and insurgents, President Hamid Karzai said on Friday.
Karzai said his government was constructing jails to get some 100 Afghans back from U.S. prisons in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which houses about 500 inmates. The construction, he said, would take about two years.
"When the Afghans leave that facility, it's none of our business what happens there," he said in answer to queries about prisoners kept in detention for years without charges.
He was speaking to journalists at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.
After the September 11 attacks, U.S.-led forces overthrew the ruling Taliban for harboring Osama bin Laden, whose al Qaeda network was blamed for the carnage.
But Karzai insisted bin Laden was not on the Afghanistan side of the border with Pakistan. "Osama bin Laden is not in Afghanistan. As to where he is, I don't know."
Karzai welcomed the announcement that Britain would send another 3,300 troops to his country. But he estimated it would take "between 5 and 10 years" before foreign soldiers would no longer be needed.
STRONG INSTITUTIONS
"We have an army, we have a police force," he said. "Our armed forces have to turn into strong institutions to be able to defend the country and maintain internal stability."
He said this would take some times because "numbers and equipment do not alone make institutions." The Afghan government has about 33,000 soldiers.
NATO has fielded 9,000 troops across Kabul, the north and the west and decided last month to move into Taliban strongholds in the south with another 6,000. In addition, the United States has a force of 19,000, which hunts down insurgents.
Karzai spoke before a conference in London on Afghanistan, which he said would also obligate Kabul to institute a variety of reforms.
The two-day international meeting, beginning on Tuesday, is to launch a five-year blue print on development, peace and how best to confront the continuing attacks by government opponents in the impoverished central Asian nation.
"Afghanistan has certain responsibilities in terms of reform, the fight against drugs...and the international community has the responsibility in helping us fulfil these objectives," Karzai said.
Karzai will co-chairing the London meeting along with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. It is designed as a follow-up to a U.N.-led meeting in Bonn, Germany, which set the political course for Afghanistan in December 2001 after the ousting of the Taliban.
Copyright 2006 ******* News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures
Well yeah, it wasn't going to be that easy