Transcripts and Speeches
Press Briefing by General David Petraeus, Commander, US Central Command
Presidential Palace, Dushanbe, Tajikistan
January 17, 2009
General Petraeus: I’ve just had a very good meeting with your President and with other members of the government including the Minister of Defense. We had a meeting that I think you would say was "ochen horosho, ochen preatna." We discussed the security situation in Iraq first, because I wanted to provide him an update on the substantial progress that has been made there while also noting the challenges that remain for that country. And you will recall, perhaps, that I was the commander in Iraq for over 19 months before taking my present position as the Commander of Central Command.
We then turned to a discussion of the situation in this region, focusing on Afghanistan, Pakistan and of course the Central Asian states and your country. We noted the common objectives that we have in terms of the effort against trafficking in illegal narcotics and also against the spread of extremism. These are objectives that as all of you know are shared not only by our two countries and the countries helping our Afghan partners, but also frankly by Russia, by China, and by the other states in the region.
I thanked the President for the over-flight that has been provided to us and also for the new initiative in terms of transit of your country by commercial goods and services. In fact, to develop the modalities for the new initiative I will send a team back here in a couple of weeks, led by a two star admiral who will work with the team from the government here to iron out the details of this effort.
We also discussed the plans for the provision of additional forces for the effort in Afghanistan by the United States and some of the other coalition countries. And we described some of the projects that we have undertaken together, discussed the cooperation and the support that the United States has provided for the counter-narcotics effort here to provide aid in terms of food and the construction of the bridge and various border facilities to promote trade and commerce between Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
I also asked the President for his thoughts and advice on the situation in other countries in this region and he provided some very wise counsel in that regard as well.
Finally I noted that unfortunately my visit this time is fairly brief, but that I hoped to return and to stay for a longer time the next time, hopefully perhaps when the spring comes, to enjoy the hospitality that your country is so famous for.
With that, I’d be happy to take a few questions, then we have to go.
Question: What commercial goods did you have in mind while speaking of transition of goods? And the second question is, what was the purpose of your visit?
General Petraeus: I think I described the purpose of the visit really was to develop further the relationship that exists between not just our two countries but between my command and also the transportation command of the United States and your country and your government.
And with respect to the commercial goods, included among them would obviously be a variety of different construction materials, just to give one example, to support the effort that is ongoing in Afghanistan in rebuilding infrastructure and building new facilities as well. But there are many other possibilities, depending on how competitive, frankly, the pricing can be for them.
Question: My first question is the plans concerning the base the United States, military base in Manas.
The second question is, is the United States going to use transport corridors for transportation of goods through Central Asia?
General Petraeus: Let me answer the last one first. There has already been agreement with a variety of states in the Central Asian region and also, by the way, with Russia, to allow the transit of various commercial goods. So that is something that we want to continue to develop further. That’s an area in which we want to expand in this country.
In fact Kazakhstan, for example. Also the other day, I visited there a few days ago, also has ratified an agreement that allows transit.
With respect to the base at Manas in Kyrgyzstan, that is actually in fact my next stop on this trip. We look forward to discussing the future of that base when we’re there, but we certainly have no plans to change anything, frankly, although we will work with the government there to solidify that relationship and in fact to strengthen it.
If I could underscore again a point that I made earlier that is relevant here, I think, and that is that it is in the interest of all states in the region, and really in the world, to see the endeavor in Afghanistan succeed. It’s in the interest of all countries to ensure that, again, the narcotics trafficking is countered and to ensure that extremism is dealt with, and that extremists do not again take over and use Afghanistan as a sanctuary from which to launch attacks around the world. This interest is shared by all including, again, China, Russia, Iran, and many other countries, not to mention all of those here and of course those in NATO and in Afghanistan. Thus we would think that all of the countries that want to see the endeavor in Afghanistan succeed would want to see the base at Manas continue to be used to support that effort.
I should note as well that the President and I discussed the fact that resolving the challenges that face Afghanistan also requires addressing problems in other countries that surround it, particularly in Pakistan where some of the extremist challenges have shown themselves in recent months in the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, various suicide attacks in Pakistan, and in awareness that in the Federally Administered Tribal Area there are safe havens that are used by these individuals who cause problems for Pakistan and also certainly in Afghanistan.
With that I’m afraid I have to go. We have a meeting with the Ambassador and the country team. I might note that she is a very good representative of your country’s interests to my country in addition to being a great representative of our country to yours.
Thank you very much.