'A Surge Is Good'

With the security situation in his country steadily deteriorating, and Taliban activity on the rise, Afghan President Hamid Karzai sat down in New York last week with NEWSWEEK's Lally Weymouth to discuss the future of Afghanistan. Excerpts:

WEYMOUTH: How is the situation in your country? Reportedly the Taliban is gaining strength and the NATO position is deteriorating. Is that an accurate assessment?
KARZAI: The Taliban are not strengthening, [but] we are not doing things that we should be doing.

Such as?
Such as, we did not pay attention in time to the sanctuaries of the Taliban.

Do you mean sanctuaries in Afghanistan or in Pakistan?
Sanctuaries in the region. I am trying to be very careful now.

Are you saying the international community should have paid more attention to the tribal areas?
Absolutely.

What should they have done?
They should have done all that was needed to be done—political and diplomatic, the right concentration of both.

You mean they should have gone in there militarily?
Not militarily. They should have used and kept open all options in order to bring security to Afghanistan.

Didn ' t former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf try quite a few options?
Maybe he did try, maybe the West did try it with him, but we did not see the results. And as we see now, unfortunately, the problem has gone deeper into Pakistan. The bombing recently in Islamabad [of the Marriott hotel]—unbelievable, shocking. I've had so many lunches and dinners in that hotel.

Unless you spray Afghanistan ' s poppy fields and kill the crops, some argue there is no way you can ever win against an insurgency fueled by so much heroin money.
Spraying is not a total solution. We have been able to bring a decline in poppy production in Afghanistan. We have freed 18 provinces in Afghanistan from poppy production. We have reduced poppy by 19 percent this year in Afghanistan. If we continue to work that way, Afghanistan will over time be free of poppies. Spraying will alienate the population.

Did you meet with [newly elected Pakistani President Asif Ali] Zardari when you were here in New York at the United Nations General Assembly?
I just met him. We should all help President Zardari because he has the right intentions and the right policy for Pakistan and for the region, and I think he deserves our assistance.

Reportedly, ISI [Pakistan ' s intelligence agency] was implicated in the bombing of the Indian embassy in Afghanistan. So the question for Mr. Zardari is, Can he get control of the people in ISI who are sympathetic to and supportive of the Taliban?
That is a very important question. I think we have to enable the current Pakistani government to do that. They have the right attitude. They are on our side. They are on the side of the international community in fighting terrorism. That is good for Pakistan as well. We have to give them the support and the means to deliver that.

But the army is very strong in Pakistan.
It is. And I hope there will be changes of attitude in the army as well.

Do you have faith in the new chief of staff [Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani]?
I have faith in Zardari, and I am sure he will deliver. I am hearing good things about General Kiyani as well. Afghanistan will do everything to give them a sense of confidence.

Both U.S. presidential candidates say they would send two to three more brigades to Afghanistan. Do you think that there is any point in additional American troops going to Afghanistan when American casualties are so high there unless there is a change in strategy?
The American casualties are not high, and the American casualties will not be high.

They are higher than they are in Iraq.
In the past three months, yes. Because of the things that we did not do for the past six years. The Afghan people are not bringing casualties to the American forces. It is the terrorists who are also attacking us in Afghanistan. That is why we have to have the right approach. A surge is good to concentrate at the right place. But at the same time we must fully back the training and equipping of the Afghan army and police, and we must prepare for a day where Afghanistan will be no longer a burden on the shoulders of the United States and the rest of the international community.

Are you asking President Bush for more forces?
I will not be specifically asking for more forces. It is a … U.S. plan to send more forces to Afghanistan. What we would ask is that these forces be deployed in the right places … and there must also be a lot of concentration on training the Afghan army and the police.

Have you met the U.S. presidential candidates?
I met Governor Palin yesterday. And I will be talking on the telephone with Senator Biden, whom I have known for a long time.

What did you think of Sarah Palin?
A very capable lady. She asked the right questions.

So you have met McCain and Obama in the past?
I have met them both, yes.

Do you care who wins? Do you think one would be better for your country?
Afghanistan has bipartisan support in America. And I am sure that whoever comes will be looking after Afghanistan equally well.

Are you going to run again, Mr. President?
I was asked this question yesterday and my answer was the poem by Robert Frost: "The woods are lovely, dark and deep/But I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep …"

So can I say yes, you are going to run again?
Yes.