[RFERL.ORG] Afghanistan's Caped President Ashraf Ghani...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
has thanked the United States for its involvement in what has become the longest foreign war in U.S. history.
"We owe a profound debt to the 2,315 servicemen and women killed and the more than 20,000 who have been maimed in service to your country and ours," he said, speaking in front of a joint session of the U.S. Congress on March 25.
This is a speech Karzai never would have made.
The White House had announced the previous day that it would halt the drawdown of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, maintaining 9,800 troops through the end of 2015.
Ghani also thanked Washington for development aid and other civilian assistance to Afghanistan.
He also called the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
(IS) group a "terrible threat" to the countries of Western and Central Asia, adding that IS fighters had already been sent to Afghanistan "to test for vulnerabilities."
Ghani said that such groups are looking for new havens.
He said that "terrorist movements whose goal is to destabilize every state in the region are looking for new bases of operation."
Ghani added that "We are the frontline, but the
He said that "to date, Afghanistan's people have rejected the violent [IS] movement. We are willing to speak truth to terror."
Ghani vowed that Afghanistan will never again be a haven for Al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups.