WASHINGTON, June 15 (UPI) -- U.S. President George W. Bush announced Tuesday his intention to sign a bilateral trade and investment framework agreement with Afghanistan.
In his address to the U.S. Congress earlier Tuesday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai had called for a free-trade agreement between his country and the United States.
Bush responded to his request by announcing his intention to sign TIFA, which is the first step toward a free-trade agreement. The Bush administration has already issued 15,000 licenses for foreign businesses and investors to explore economic opportunities in Afghanistan.
The United States and Japan have also rebuilt the Khandahar-Kabul Highway, a vital commercial and transportation link between Afghanistan's two largest cities. "A bilateral trade agreement will add new fuel to the economic revival," said Bush.
Bush, who was addressing a joint press conference with his Afghan guest at the White House, however, did not respond to Karzai's request for more NATO troops.
"We are hoping that NATO will come to Afghanistan before the elections of September," to fulfill the promises the United States and other allies have made, Mr. Karzai said at an earlier briefing.
Bush assured him that his government will continue to help build the new Afghan National Army and to train new Afghan police and border patrols but did not promise NATO troops.
He did indicate, however, that U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan when he said, "Together we will maintain the peace, secure Afghanistan's borders and deny terrorists any foothold in that country."
The U.S. president also announced five new measures to help Afghanistan:
-- A pledge to support the democratic institutions in Afghanistan and a program to train newly elected Afghan politicians and assembly members.
-- A plan to print millions of new textbooks and to build modern schools in every Afghan province with a new curriculum that promotes religious and ethnic tolerance.
-- A new $4 million commitment for a women teachers' training institute in Kabul.
-- A pledge to pursue a bilateral trade and investment framework agreement.
-- And a pledge of $5 million to fund training programs and grants for small businesses for women.
Graduates of the teachers' training institute the Bush administration is setting up in Kabul will return to their provinces and rural districts to train other teachers in the crusade against illiteracy.
More than 250 qualified Afghans will participate in Humphrey, Fulbright, Cochran and other U.S.-run exchange programs.
The additional funding Bush announced Tuesday for small businesses will provide Afghan women with small business grants and training in business management skills.
Talking to reporters later, Karzai urged the American media not to describe those leaders who participated in the Afghan resistance against the Soviets as warlords.
"We don't call them warlords. Some of those people are respected leaders of the Afghan resistance. Some of them are former presidents," he said. "And we respect them in Afghanistan."
Defending his decision to hold talks with these leaders, the Afghan president said: "It's my job to keep stability and peace in Afghanistan. And I will talk to anybody that comes to talk to me about stability and peace and about movement toward democracy."
Reports in the international media have suggested that Karzai was holding talks with several former resistance leaders and groups to widen his support base for the September elections.
"No deals have been made," said Karzai when a reporter suggested that he was making deals to ensure his victory in the forthcoming elections. "No coalitions have been made, and no coalition will be made. And they did not ask for it," he said.
He said Afghanistan had already registered 3.8 million voters out of a total of 10.5 million, about 35 percent of them women.
He acknowledged that Afghanistan faced the problem of drugs but said he was "adamant to fight this menace, to end it in Afghanistan, and we seek your help in that."
U.N. and Western drug experts have published estimates of a bumper poppy crop in Afghanistan this year, but also praised the efforts the Afghan government has undertaken to curb the drug trade.
