KABUL, 28 November 2003 — Afghanistan’s ousted Taleban are fighting a losing battle, former US first lady Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday during a brief visit to Afghanistan to spend Thanksgiving with troops hunting remnants of the hard-line militia.
“The message should go out that the Taleban terrorists are fighting a losing battle,” she told reporters after meeting with President Hamid Karzai at the presidential palace in Kabul.
“They cannot win because they cannot intimidate and undermine the resolve of the Afghan people to have a future free of this kind of terrorism,” she said. After meeting with Karzai and Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, Hillary said: “I’m very impressed by the resolve of the Afghan government and President Karzai in particular and the United States is as resolved to stand as a strong partner to ensure that the terrorists, whoever they are and wherever they come from, will be dealt with.
“I think that there’s not only the resolve but there will be the resources and forces necessary,” she said.
Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, who accompanied Hillary, warned that the United States had to be committed to a long struggle in Afghanistan, where Taleban militants continue to launch regular attacks on US and Afghan troops and aid workers two years after the regime was toppled.
“Our biggest error would be to assume that this battle is over. This battle continues and we have to commit ourselves to a very long struggle,” Reed said. “We have to signal not just by words but by deeds that we’re committed to the people of Afghanistan not just this month or next month but for a very long time,” he said.
The Democrat senators, both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, are on an official visit to Afghanistan and Iraq. Karzai said they had discussed “various aspects of Afghan life,” with Hillary taking a particular interest in maternity care. Afghanistan has among the world’s highest infant and maternal mortality rates.
Hillary said she also met with representatives of women’s organizations who raised concerns about the rights of women in the draft constitution, which is to be debated and approved next month.
“I understand their concerns and I’m confident that they will be raised and dealt with,” she said.
The new constitution should “embody in a document the hopes and aspirations of the Afghan people, all of them, men and women” and establish institutions “to guarantee a better future for the children of Afghanistan.”
Hillary and Reed had Thanksgiving dinner with US 10th Mountain Division troops at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul. She said her visit was “to tell them they’re doing a great job and we’re very grateful to them.” The senators then headed south to the former Taleban stronghold of Kandahar to meet with troops there.
Hillary ‘s visit follows a fatal helicopter crash on Sunday near Bagram which killed five US troops and injured seven others.
