Text of Bush and Karzai

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - Text of President Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday, as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions.

BUSH: Good morning. Thank you. Be seated. Welcome.

Appreciate a man I've come to admire, President Karzai, for joining us. Laura and I had the honor of hosting the president for dinner last night. He and I spent a lot of this morning just sitting down, alone, talking about our common interests, common concerns.

President Karzai is an optimistic man. He's watched his country emerge from the days of darkness to days of hope.

KARZAI: Absolutely.

BUSH: I appreciate your stewardship. I appreciate your commitment to empowering your people. I appreciate your strong stance for freedom and justice. And I'm proud to call you an ally in this war against those who would wreak havoc in order to deny people a chance to live in peace.

We're working closely together to help the people of Afghanistan prosper. We work together to give the people of Afghanistan a chance to raise their children in a hopeful world. And we're working together to defeat those who would try to stop the advance of a free Afghan society.

Spent a fair amount of time talking about our security strategy.

You might remember, it was last winter that people were speculating about the Taliban spring offensive and about how the Taliban had regrouped and were going to go on the attack inside Afghanistan.

Well, there was a spring offensive, all right. It was conducted by U.S., NATO and, equally importantly, Afghan troops. And we went on the offense, because we understand that it is in our mutual interest to deny extremists the opportunity to derail this young democracy.

There's still a fight going on, but I'm proud to report to the American people that the Afghan army is in the fight. The government's in the fight, and the army's in the fight.

Afghan national security forces are increasing in strength. There's about 110,000 Afghans now defending their nation. And more Afghans are stepping up to serve.

And it's in the interest of the United States to help you develop that national army and local police that will send a clear message to the people of Afghanistan that the governments can help provide an opportunity for people to raise their children in a peaceful world.

There's a lot of forces there in Afghanistan supporting this government. And our 23,500 troops are proud to stand side by side with 26,000 troops from other nations. And we applaud those countries who have committed their troops to help Afghanistan succeed.

We've committed more than $23 billion since 2001 to help rebuild the country. I think our citizens will be interested to know, for example, that 7,000 community health care workers have been trained, that provide about 340,000 Afghan men, women and children a month with good health care.

I remember talking a lot about how the Taliban prevented young girls from going to school in Afghanistan. American citizens recall with horror to think about a government that would deny a young child the opportunity to have the basics necessary to succeed in life.

Today there are nearly 5 million students going to school in Afghanistan, a third of whom are girls.

Still work to be done. Don't get me wrong.

But progress is being made, Mr. President, and we're proud of you, proud of the work you're doing.

We talked about the need to stem the narcotics trade. I'm sure the president will comment on this. He understands that it's very important for farmers to be incented to grow crop other than poppy and that he knows full well the United States is watching, measuring and trying to help eradicate poppy cultivation.

We spend more than a fair amount of time on it. We spend a lot of time on it. And it's important that we get this right.

Mr. President, I appreciate your commitment to not only dealing with the poppy growers and the poppy crop, but also dealing with corruption. It's very important that our societies emerge in such a way that the people have confidence in the capacity of government to conduct the affairs — conduct their affairs in a way that's above board and honest and transparent.

And finally, I do want to congratulate you on the joint jirga that's coming up.

This is a meeting between President Karzai, President Musharraf and representative elements from parts of their respective countries, all coming together to talk about reconciliation and how we can work together — how you can work together — to achieve a — to achieve common solutions to problems.

And the main problem is to fight extremism; to recognize that history has called us into action, and by fighting extremists and radicals, we help people realize dreams. And helping realize — people realize dreams helps promote peace. That's what we want.

You come from a part of the world, Mr. President, where there's a long history of violence and a long history of people seeking freedom. It's in the interest of the United States to be on the — tip the scales of freedom your way.

We can only do so with strong leadership, and I appreciate the leadership you're providing.

So welcome to Camp David.

KARZAI: Thank you very much. ... Thank you very much, Mr. President, for receiving me in Camp David. You and the first lady are generous and kind hosts. And thank you very much for that.

Mr. President, I'm here today to, once again, thank you and the American people for all that you have done for Afghanistan: for our liberation first and then for our stability and prosperity.

We have gone a long way.

I've been here many times before in America, thanking the American people for what they have given to Afghanistan. I've spoken of roads. I've spoken of schools. I've spoken of clinics. I've spoken of health services. I've spoken of education. I've spoken of agriculture. I've spoken of lots of achievements. I've also had requests for help that you have delivered to us.

But today I'm going to speak about only one achievement that means so much for the Afghan people and surely to you and the rest of the world. That is that Afghanistan today, with the help that you have provided and our other allies have provided, can save, is saving the life of at least 50,000 infants after they are born and the life of 85,000 children under 5.

Mr. President, when you and I begin to think of the mothers who can have their babies safe today, then we know the value and the importance of this achievement. And thank you very, very much for this tremendous help. Afghanistan will have had 85,000 children living today had you not been there to help us, with the rest of the world.

BUSH: Thank you, sir.

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