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Q Before we were leaving there were more disclosures from WikiLeaks about President Karzai, about the strains in the relationship there. Do you think that that comes at an awkward time? Do you think that that may add to some of the tensions in the relationship as the two leaders talk?
MR. RHODES: I think -- I don't think so. I think we've had -- we've dealt with a series of public discussion around some of the challenges in Afghanistan. There have been books, there have been previous WikiLeaks revelations related to Afghanistan. So we've weathered those kinds of revelations before as it relates to our relationship with President Karzai and the Afghan government.
I think we're all well aware that there are serious challenges in Afghanistan. It's a tough fight. It's a country that is trying to recover from many, many years of war, predating even 9/11. So we've had ups and downs in terms of the kind of public revelation of information associated with the challenge of Afghanistan. But I think precisely the fact that we've dealt with some of the very specific stories associated with the latest WikiLeaks disclosure -- and through these WikiLeaks disclosures and through these books and articles -- I think it allows us to be able to weather this and continue to move forward.
What we're focused on is making sure that our two governments are aligned behind the strategic objective, which, again, is breaking the Taliban's momentum, building up Afghan capacity, and undertaking a transition that both ensures that there's never a safe haven for terrorism in Afghanistan as it was before 9/11 and that the Afghan people can control their own future.
MR. GIBBS: Let me add, as Ben said, the challenges on either the security side or the governing side are not new and they're certainly not unknown. What unites both sides is, what Ben just alluded to, which is our goal of providing safety and security, our goal of ridding the Taliban, al Qaeda and its extremist affiliates from the ability to use Afghanistan as a safe haven to plan attacks on our country.
So the challenges are known; the goals are known. And we are pleased to be making progress. |
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Name(s:) |
Ben Rhodes |
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Title: |
Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications |
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Agency(ies): |
Office of the Press Secretary, White House |
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Url: |
Url Link
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Archive: |
Archive Link
http://archive.is/uYgc8 |
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