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Zakheim Speaks of U.S. Support for Afghan Reconstruction Plan
Wednesday, November 27, 2002
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

To ultimately be successful, the Afghan government must attract business and pass the laws necessary for businesses to flourish. But more than that, Zakheim noted, to make businesses want to come in, "they have to know it is a safe and secure environment."

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
Building security is at the heart of rebuilding a terrorist-free Afghanistan, said Dov Zakheim, DoD's comptroller and point man for the effort.

"Unless we can rebuild Afghanistan ... we really will not be able to get out of there," Zakheim said during an interview with internal press organizations today. "We will really never be able to enhance the security situation. The two run hand-in-hand."

The United States is contributing $900 million in fiscal 2002 and 2003. "That is clearly not enough; we must be matched or exceeded by other nations," Zakheim said. "This will be billions of dollars over time."

Zakheim stated that the United States will provide support, but is not the driving force behind the effort. He said the Afghans themselves are pushing the program. "There is a determined president (Hamid Karzai) here who knows what he wants and he has a vision of Afghanistan as a trading hub for a newly opened Central and South Asia," Zakheim said. "We're not building that nation; they are building that nation."
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Dan