In RFE/RL Interview, Secretary of State Rice Reaffirms U.S. Commitment to Afghanistan

(Washington, DC — June 28, 2006) U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice assured Afghans, in an interview with RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan in Kabul, that “the American people are committed to Afghanistan’s future… We are not leaving again, as we did in the 1980s. This time, our strategic relationship is strong and it is going to be a long-term relationship.”

Rice spoke to a Kabul-based correspondent for Radio Free Afghanistan on June 28, shortly after her meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. When asked by RFE/RL about security concerns on the Afghan-Pakistani border, Rice said, “These are difficult borders… But I am quite sure that Pakistan and Afghanistan have a lot at stake — both of them — in the defeat of these terrorists and we are going to continue to work very, very hard.” She emphasized the commitment of the Afghan government, the Pakistani government, and, indeed, the U.S. government to work together “better,” to ensure that the Afghan people enjoy the “benefits of security.”

To read a complete transcript of the Radio Free Afghanistan interview with Secretary Rice, please visit the RFE/RL website.

Radio Free Afghanistan, the Dari- and Pashto-language service of RFE/RL, broadcasts 12 hours of programming a day, with programs produced in Prague and the service’s Kabul Bureau and transmitted to listeners via shortwave, satellite and AM and FM signals provided by the International Broadcasting Bureau. Radio Free Afghanistan programming is also available via the Internet, at the service’s trilingual website www.azadiradio.org and at www.rferl.org; English-language news about events in Afghanistan can be found on the RFE/RL website.