WASHINGTON -- Hamid Karzai, giving his first speech in the United States since becoming Afghanistan's interim leader, promised yesterday that he would prevent corruption so that billions of dollars in international assistance to his country would not be squandered.
Karzai said he would take personal responsibility for ensuring that the $4.5 billion in aid promised from countries around the world would be properly spent on rebuilding Afghanistan after decades of war, Taliban rule and the bomb damage resulting from the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism.
"We have to promise that we will not cheat our own people. If there is cheating, corruption, I will stop it," Karzai said in a speech at Georgetown University.
Karzai's three-day visit, which began yesterday, was a powerful symbol of how much has changed since Sept. 11. An Afghan leader had not visited Washington in 39 years.
Karzai also appealed to Afghan-Americans, who made up most of his audience last night, to return to help rebuild their native land.
"From difficult times, we are walking toward positive times, hopeful times, good times," he said. "We are going toward development, toward better times. The people want that now."
Assuring Afghan-Americans that they and their investments would be safe, he urged them: "Whatever passport you have, come back. Come back to Afghanistan."
Karzai began his visit with prayers at a mosque in Annandale, Va. He was scheduled to meet with President Bush at the White House today and will be Bush's guest tomorrow when the president delivers his first State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress.
When Bush last spoke to Congress, on Sept. 20, it was to rally the nation for war against the terrorists who attacked the United States on Sept. 11 and the ruling Taliban regime that harbored Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida group in Afghanistan. After the Taliban were routed, an international conference selected Karzai, 44, as interim leader to begin rebuilding a nation long torn by war.
In another important symbolic move, Karzai also plans to preside today over a flag-raising at the former Afghan Embassy in Washington. Abandoned during the Taliban's iron-fisted rule, the embassy will be reopened after extensive renovations.
Karzai also plans to visit the Pentagon and the site in lower Manhattan where the World Trade Center towers stood before the Sept. 11 attacks.
