Attorney General Eric Holder speaks at a press conference at the U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Getty)
As allegations of high-level corruption in Afghanistan continued to kick up dusk, Attorney General Eric Holder made his first trip to the country on Wednesday for meetings with U.S. and Afghan officials.
During his day-long trip, Holder met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Minister of Justice Habibullah Ghalib and Attorney General Mohammad Ishaq Aloko, as well as U.S. Justice Department officials stationed there, to size up efforts to buttress the Afghan justice system.
Holder’s visit comes at a precarious time for both the U.S. and Afghanistan. A change in military leadership in Afghanistan — Gen. David Petraeus will take over for Gen. Stanley McChrystal who resigned under pressure – has underscored tensions within the Obama administration over the direction of the war, and patience in Congress is waning.
Meanwhile, U.S. appropriators have threatened to cut foreign aid to Afghanistan until Karzai’s government, with the help of the U.S. Justice and State departments, among others, show progress in battling widespread corruption.
It has been an uneasy partnership. In the latest spat, Alako, the Afghan attorney general, refuted an article that appeared Monday in The Washington Post that described corruption in Karzai’s government. The article quoted unidentified U.S. officials as saying Alako had bowed to pressure from senior Afghan officials to scuttle investigations of members of Karzai’s government and businessmen close to it.
“Investigating the cases of corruption is not an easy task,” Alako said, according to The New York Times. “We have to coordinate with many offices, here and in the provinces. The claim that we delay these cases intentionally is a baseless claim.”
After his meetings Wednesday, Holder offered reassurances that U.S. and Afghan law enforcement officials would continue to collaborate, even after the conclusion of military operations, and he praised efforts by Karzai’s government to enforce the rule of law.
“We are proud to be standing with Afghanistan in the fight against corruption, narcotics trafficking and terrorism,” Holder said. ”The law enforcement partnerships we have established will endure.”
The U.S. Justice Department has committed significant resources to propping up the criminal justice system in Afghanistan.
Department lawyers train Afghan prosecutors and police officers to investigate and prosecute major narcotics and narcotics-related corruption cases and to ferret out other corruption.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI are also working closely with their Afghan counterparts to dismantle drug trafficking groups and other organized criminal groups that operate with impunity in some parts of the country.
Holder’s full remarks are below.
I am pleased to be in Kabul today and to have had the opportunity to meet with President Karzai, Minister of Justice Ghalib, Attorney General Aloko and other distinguished Afghan officials.
The United States is committed to succeeding in Afghanistan and breaking the Taliban’s momentum. As we heard President Obama say on June 23, the United States will “persist and persevere” and “we will not tolerate a safe haven for terrorists who want to destroy Afghan security from within, and launch attacks against innocent men, women and children in our country and around the world.”
There is no clearer sign of our commitment to Afghanistan than President Obama’s appointment of General David Petraeus as Commander of the International Security Assistance Force. General Petraeus fully participated in the U.S. policy review last fall, and he both supported and helped design the strategy that we have in place today.
We have watched with interest from Washington the positive steps President Karzai and his Cabinet have taken to help improve governance and enforce the rule of law. We applaud President Karzai for his actions and encourage him to continue his efforts as much work remains to be done.
The long-term stability of Afghanistan lies in the hands of the Afghan people. A key pillar of achieving stability is adherence to the rule of law. The United States is committed to partnering with Afghanistan to ensure that all Afghan citizens have access to a fair, efficient and transparent justice system. Rule of law should be an important dimension of the long-term U.S.-Afghan strategic partnership.
The support and commitment of the United States to improving the lives of the Afghan people and establishing the rule of law will outlast any military presence in the country. The Strategic Partnership that will be signed by our two Presidents by the end of this year will codify this long-term commitment.
And I personally commit that we will continue the partnerships that the U.S. Department of Justice has developed here in Afghanistan. We have sent some of our most experienced federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents – from our Criminal Division, the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the FBI, the DEA and the U.S. Marshals Service – to work here with their Afghan law enforcement counterparts. I am glad to have had the opportunity to meet with them today and to thank them for their service to the United States and to Afghanistan. We are proud to be standing with Afghanistan in the fight against corruption, narcotics trafficking and terrorism. The law enforcement partnerships we have established will endure.
[...] Post reported earlier this month. Days after the article, Attorney General Eric Holder made his first visit to the country and praised efforts by Karzai’s government to enforce the rule of [...]