U.S. Department of State

Spokesman Kelly (Nov. 19): "Secretary Clinton noted in her public comments that she was encouraged by President Karzai’s pledge in his inaugural speech to battle corruption and get his security forces sufficiently trained to take the lead in the country within five years. She also noted that President Karzai’s speech set forth an agenda for change and reform and that he outlined steps for tackling corruption." -Daily Press Briefing

Secretary Clinton (Nov. 19): "Spo This is an important moment.  Today’s inauguration opens a real window of opportunity for a new compact between the Afghan Government and its people, and for a new chapter in the partnership between Afghanistan and the international community.  And we must seize this moment.  For the United States and Afghanistan, this means a renewed partnership based on mutual responsibility, where we each do our part to deliver for the Afghan people and to advance our common fight against our common enemy." -Remarks

kesman Kelly (Nov. 18): "The mining sector has great promise for Afghanistan’s growth and prosperity. And of course, in addition to this economic promise, there has to be transparency in how these contracts are let and how these resources are developed. I think as you know, for our part, we have pretty strong monitoring mechanisms for the kind of aid that we give to the Government of Afghanistan, and this is to ensure that the aid that the U.S. taxpayer is giving, it reaches the people that it’s intended to reach and has the kind of impact that we want to have and that are in the U.S. national interests. -Daily Press Briefing

Secretary Clinton (Nov. 18): "We want to be a strong partner with the government and the people of Afghanistan. And I always say both because it’s not either/or. It has to be both. And I will look forward to the conversations that I will be having with the president and others. We have engaged in a very careful and thoughtful review. When the President asked us to make this review, we wanted to question every assumption, we wanted to look at every possible decision. Because we know that this is a turning point that we all face together." -Full Text

Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Trip to Afghanistan
Secretary Clinton will travel to Afghanistan to attend President Karzai’s November 19 inauguration ceremony, meet with Afghanistan’s leadership, international partners and allies, US troops, staff in Provincial Reconstruction Teams, and Embassy staff. This is the Secretary's fourth trip to Afghanistan, first as Secretary of State. (Nov. 18) -Press Statement

Spokesman Kelly (Nov. 17): "...[W]e have a robust partnership with Pakistan, an aid package that is supportive of their economic development efforts, but also of their – some of their security efforts. And we’ve been very supportive of their offensive in South Waziristan and supportive of their efforts to deal with the problem of the violent extremists in the region." -Daily Press Briefing

Spokesman Kelly (Nov. 17): "Well, it's time for action, for the Afghan Government to address this problem of corruption, and that we stand prepared to work with them and support them as they address this. And we, of course, welcome the announcement that we saw of the formation of the major crimes task force." -Daily Press Briefing

Assistant Secretary Blake (Nov. 16): "...[O]ur view of the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which is very notable because it is the first state visit of any foreign leader under the Obama Administration. I think there is a reason for that, and that is that we want to take our strategic partnership with India to the next level. We feel that India is going to be one of our most important partners in the 21^st century, and we are putting in place now a wide range of bilateral cooperation to really reflect that new level of engagement." -Full Text

Assistant Secretary Blake (Nov. 10): "Well really this is an issue for India and Pakistan to resolve bilaterally as we've always said. If you look at the history of what happened between 2004 and 2007 both countries made a lot of progress in their bilateral dialogue, not only in the composite dialogue between the foreign ministries, but also in the more sensitive backchannel negotiations. So I think that provides a very powerful example of what the two countries are capable." -Full Text

S.M. Fahad bin Kamal Honored as State Alumni Member of the Month
Kamal is a Bangladeshi alumnus of the Department’s Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program. Throughout November, his leadership and contributions as a community organizer will be recognized on the State Alumni website (https://alumni.state.gov), the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ official website for the more than one million Department-sponsored exchange alumni worldwide. (Nov. 3) -Full Text