KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday he wants his country to have a long-term security relationship with the United States to help the war-torn country defend itself. Speaking at a press conference during a visit by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Karzai said "the Afghan people want a longer-term relationship with the United States".
"They want this relationship to be a sustained economic and political relationship, and most importantly of all, a strategic security relationship to help Afghanistan defend itself," Karzai said.
| I think we can oblige. Who do we have in Heidelberg who's not doing anything important right now? |
Rumsfeld said the US military's relationship between Afghanistan and the United States had "grown and strengthened," but he avoided the issue of whether Washington hoped to establish permanent military bases. "What we generally do when we work with another country (is) we find ways we can be helpful, maybe training, equipment or other types of assistance. We think in terms of what we are doing rather than the question of military bases and that type of thing," he said.
| "We're thinking, we're thinking ... |
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