Kabul, Afghanistan — Secretary of State Colin Powell, the most senior U.S. official to visit Afghanistan in 25 years, promised Thursday the United States would help rebuild the country and wipe out the "contamination" of terrorism.
Powell told Hamid Karzai, the interim Afghan leader, the United States would make a substantial financial commitment at next week's international aid donors conference in Tokyo and that U.S. forces would be relentless in pursuing the remnants of al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Hamid Karzai, left, chairman of the interim government of Afghanistan, walks with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, right, following their joint news conference in Kabul, Afghanistan. At center Thursday is interim government Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullah. Others are unidentified.
"This country needs everything," Powell said on NBC's "Today" show. "It needs a banking system. It needs a health-care system. It needs a sanitation system. It needs a phone system. It needs road construction. Everything you can imagine."
Prime Minister Karzai, obviously buoyed by Powell's visit, emphasized deep needs in Afghanistan during a joint news conference at the presidential palace.
"The Afghan people have been asking for a staying commitment, a staying partnership, from the United States to Afghanistan in order to make the region safe, in order to make Afghanistan stand back on its own feet and continue to fight against terrorism or the return of terrorism in any form to this country," Karzai said.
Powell assured Karzai that Washington would be steadfast.
"We don't want to leave any contamination behind," Powell said of continuing military efforts to purge Afghanistan of terrorists. "That is in the interests of the Afghan people and certainly the mission we came here to perform."
After Powell's visit, the White House announced Karzai will meet President Bush Jan. 28 in Washington.
"We look forward to an Afghanistan that is prosperous, accountable to its citizens and at peace with its neighbors and the international community," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said.
U.S. troops on Thursday were helping Afghan forces in a disarmament campaign in Spinboldak, one of the country's most potentially volatile regions, where weapons are plentiful and law enforcement is minimal.
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