Karzai: Additional U.S. Troops 'Seven Years Too Late'

HAMID KARZAI: We very much welcome that. We welcome a re-evaluation of the strategy in the fight against terrorism.

We hope it will be one that will go with the reality on the ground. We hope that it will be one that will think of strengthening Afghanistan's own institutions and security forces. And we keep hearing that it may have an element of adding to the Afghan forces, both the police and the army. That's a good thing; we welcome it.

MARGARET WARNER: Now, last weekend, as you know, President Obama mentioned the prospect of reaching out to moderate elements, as he put it, of the Taliban-led insurgency. You applauded that.

HAMID KARZAI: Yes.

MARGARET WARNER: My question is, is it possible to peel off moderate elements?

HAMID KARZAI: Yes, it is very much possible. The thousands of the Taliban who are now frightened into fighting us and their leaders after they surrendered the government to us went back and lived in their villages and their homes. A lot of them were intimidated and pushed away from their villages and homes unduly, wrongly.

They are not enemies of America. They're not enemies of the rest of the world or of the Afghan people. They're just countryside folks of a religious tendency that we have in Afghanistan. They're not ideologically against what we are doing, and we must bring them back in order for us to have peace in this country.

Now, I would not categorize them precisely as moderate and non-moderate. I would characterize them as Afghans and non-Afghans. The Afghan Taliban are welcome.

Now, I would draw a further category here. And in the Afghan Taliban, those who are not with al-Qaida, those who are not part of any terrorist network, those who are not in the pay or grip of a foreign intelligence agency, and those who accept the Afghan constitution and the way of life that the Afghan people have voted for.

HAMID KARZAI: Well, he has to show his colors.

MARGARET WARNER: Meaning?

HAMID KARZAI: Meaning that he must come up and speak for peace, accept the Afghan constitution, denounce violence, and say that he's not enemies with the rest of the world, that he wants to co-exist with the rest of the world.

And then for the United Nations to remove him, once he does that, if the United Nations wants to do that, to remove him off the list of banned Taliban leaders.

So it has to be a two-way thing. One is the announcement by President Obama; the next is the responsibility that falls on the Taliban leaders to take this opportunity.

MARGARET WARNER: Now, General McKiernan, who we spoke to a couple of days ago, and other American commanders say they consider Mullah Omar in the category of irreconcilable. Do you have a difference with Washington on that? Are you saying the U.S. and your government should explore negotiations with Mullah Omar?

HAMID KARZAI: I have been asking for this exploratory attitude. I have asked upon Mullah Omar many, many times to come out and speak for peace and show his intentions. He has not done that; I hope he will do that.

And if he doesn't do that, if he continues not to do that, then, of course, we have the right to seek peace through other elements of the Taliban and by all other means.

HAMID KARZAI: I sensed that myself last week when I attended the International Women's Day meeting, where there were hundreds of women, and they applauded me on several other issues, but on reconciliation, of bringing the Taliban back, they were quiet.

And then I engaged them on this. They have a concern, especially the urban women have a concern. The ones who are in politics and society and workplace, are concerned.

We have to absolutely make sure and we have to talk to the Taliban that the rights that women have in Afghanistan are absolutely in accordance to Islam, if that's their objection, second, that the rights that the Afghan women have are in accordance to the standards that Afghan people have set for themselves, and that is not reconcilable. That will be there, and it will continue to be our utmost priority.

MARGARET WARNER: Now, another thing we've heard from ordinary Afghans is great disappointment in what they see as growing corruption in your government. And they tell us they have to pay bribes to get anything done. They believe there are people in your government and governors, also, who've gotten very rich off insider deals.

What do you say to them, your own constituents, who are so disappointed?

HAMID KARZAI: That is a problem we have, no doubt. This is a concern of the Afghan people, and we are working on it. There are at least, every day, documents that I sign, especially the judiciary sends to me, on the suspension of judges temporarily when they're suspected of corruption or their removal, the imprisonment of government officials or others. Work is going on.

And from the perspective of Afghanistan, as the Afghan president, I can tell you that I know how far we have gone. I know the problems are still there. But we have done a lot better in the past few years, and we are in a better place today than we were last year, and we'll be better next year than we are this year.

MARGARET WARNER: So are you saying that the U.S. officials who have been critical of you, including many senior people in the Obama administration, when they say you have just failed to act on this, that they're just wrong?

HAMID KARZAI: They're absolutely wrong. They're absolutely wrong. They know what's going on in Afghanistan. They know how much we have worked on this question. They know how much we have discussed this with them. They know how much in detail we have gone to discuss this with them. They know even the names that we have discussed that they have disagreed that we arrest. And for reasons of security, I'm not going to go beyond that.