CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript
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BLITZER: Yes, good point. Dana, thanks very much. Senator McCain, the ranking member of the Senate Arms Services Committee.
Jack Reed is a key Democratic member of the Senate Arms Services Committee. He is in Afghanistan right now. He is joining us on the phone from Kabul.
Senator Reed, thanks very much for joining us. I take it you've known for a while that the president was going to be showing up for the signing ceremony with Hamid Karzai, that's why you're there right now, is that right?
SENATOR JACK REED (D), RHODE ISLAND (via telephone): No, Wolf. We are here to visit military personnel in Afghanistan and we found out this afternoon the president would be coming in and we were fortunate enough to be invited to the signing for the long-term relationship agreement. We are here to see the troops and talk to the commanders.
BLITZER: Is there a firm agreement as to how many U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan after 2014, Senator Reed?
REED: No, there's not. The military command is here, General Allen and his colleagues are going periodically report to the president about the threat, the capability of the Afghan forces and about the contribution of not just U.S. forces, but the NATO forces. And they'll advise the president on what the Afghan forces will be and that's going to be done as the situation develops over the next several years.
BLITZER: And there's no agreement on how much U.S. aid, economic and military aid will be provided to the Afghans after 2014, is that right?
REED: That will probably be discussed in more detail in Chicago because NATO as well as other non-NATO, but this strategic framework is the basis for discussion and the assistance -- in Afghanistan for the next several years in order to continue to not only confirm the terrorists and insurgency --
BLITZER: Take us inside. You were at the signing ceremony that was just completed, is that right?
REED: Yes.
BLITZER: So take us inside the presidential palace in the Afghan capital right now, first of all, security. How secure -- how dangerous is it right now for the president of the United States and some top senators and you're on a congressional delegation there?
REED: Well, the security precautions were, as you would expect, very rigorous. Just a few weeks ago there was an operation within Kabul, but this was a very carefully planned security operation.
It was quite evident by the personnel, by the cooperation between Afghan forces as well as U.S. security forces and, you know, I think this is something that the president was right to come here and is right now on his way to Bagram to thank the troops. Every day they face more dangers.
BLITZER: All right, Senator, stand by for a moment because we're just getting in the video now from the presidential palace in Afghanistan. They're going to be showing us the actual signing ceremony of the president of the United States.
This is the raw video coming into THE SITUATION ROOM. There you see Senator Carl Levin standing there together with David Plouffe, and Senator Reed. We are looking at you talking to the David Plouffe, the president's senior adviser, Senator Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Arms Services Committee, some Afghan officials there as well.
We are getting ready for this signing ceremony. It occurred a little while ago, but only now the videotape is being fed in and we can see some of the pictures coming in. You can see some of the dignitaries arriving right now, and taking a closer look.
There's Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan on the left. There's General Allen, the White House chief of staff, Jack Lou, you can see him over there in the glasses and the darker hair.
They're getting ready to be seated and Jack Reed to the left and Carl Levin and others and some of the Afghan officials who will witness this historic signing ceremony, and as I've been pointing out, this is basically a framework agreement for some 10 years, but a lot of the details have to be resolved. How much U.S. economic and military assistance will continue to flow to Afghanistan after 2014?
How many U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan after 2014? What will be the role of those U.S. troops? Will they simply be engaged in training? A lot of these questions remain to be resolved.
Senator Reed, you're still on the phone with us, and I assume you can't see what we're showing our viewers, but these were some of the pictures of the president walking in with Hamid Karzai.
They're going to be speaking and right now they're going to be doing the signing ceremony. I take it, Senator Reed, they signed the agreement first and then they spoke. Is that what happened?
REED: No, they spoke first. President Karzai led off and then President Obama and then they signed the documents.
BLITZER: All right, let's listen to Hamid Karzai. Senator Reed, here's Hamid Karzai, the president actually -- looks like that videotape just froze. Here's Hamid Karzai, the president.
All right, he's speaking in Pashtun right now. My Pashtun is not that good. I don't think Senator Jack Reed's Pashtun is very good. John King is watching all of these unfold as well.
Senator Reed, you were there and this is videotape feeding in right now. Did he speak for long in Pashtun or did he eventually get to English?
REED: His entire speech was in his language and then the president spoke in English. There were translation services for us in the audience, headphones. Their speeches were short.
Both presidents were quite complimentary and recognized the sacrifices of the citizens of both Afghanistan and the United States in this common struggle.
And they were very short speeches and the documents aside and exchanged and signed by the other president to each other and the president was en route to visit American soldiers in Bagram Air Base.
BLITZER: Did you have a chance during the course of your visit to Afghanistan to meet with the Afghan president? Because I've got to tell you, Senator Reed, I know you quite well.
You and I spent time together in Iraq back in 2005. You're very passionate on these issues as you should be, a former U.S. Army ranger. Did he explain some of the rather bizarre anti-American statements he's made in recent months to you?
REED: We met for about an hour, President Karzai, both Senator Levin and I, we made very, very clear, you know, that we were in a common effort, that we recognized the sacrifices of the military forces and people of Afghanistan.
And that we suggested or just spoke and wanted to make sure he understood how important what he said was and how much it resonated in the United States and recognition to our sacrifices have to be made.
My listening to him this evening he was -- he did, in fact, recognize the sacrifices of the American personnel and diplomatic personnel in this effort.
And we also spoke about the issues of border security and what he could do and his country could do to help strengthen their borders and also the capacity of his government to meet out corruption and provide better services to his population.
It was a very frank and candid exchange and it's about an hour- long meeting.
BLITZER: Stand by for a moment. I want to update viewers. Senator Jack Reed is in Kabul. He was at the signing ceremony between President Obama and President Hamid Karzai.
This is videotape feeding in. President Karzai speaking in Pashtun unfortunately, we don't have a translation of what he is saying. We will be hearing from President Obama. He'll speak in English so we'll hear that momentarily. John King is watching all of this unfold.
The problem with President Karzai, John, and I covered him for a long time. He has a tendency to say one thing to the visitors like Senator Jack Reed and President Obama in English stuff that the U.S. likes to hear, but when he's speaking to his own folks back in Afghanistan, it's oftentimes very, very different and occasionally very bitterly anti-American.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not only to his own people at home, but local politics he has to play and sometimes the United States understands that after the horrific killing and I understand some of that language.
But Wolf, I don't know if Senator Reed is still with us, he appeared with the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and said some things that most U.S. officials have found quite troubling.
He has been the president now for 10-1/2 years. First the interim president, the acting president and now the elected president and you go back to the Bush administration, the days after 9/11, they said some days he's on and he says the right things and he starts to do the right things and other days he's ranting anti-American and forgive me, but the corruption record speaks for itself.
The delays and the length of time, the length of money and the length of training to get the Afghan forces up to speed, speaks for itself, the lack of infrastructure, economic process speaks for itself. Not saying for a moment that these aren't extraordinarily difficult challenges for President Karzai, but there's a lot of frustration.
BLITZER: I'm sure you're frustrated, Senator Reed. Senator Reed is joining us on the phone from Kabul as we await the remarks from the president of the United States at this signing ceremony.
Give us your thoughts of what John and I just pointed out to our viewers in the United States and around world that there are often times two very different Hamid Karzais out there.
REED: Well, we may, again, in our discussion today with the president we made it very clear that his comments resonate far beyond Afghanistan and that there has to be acknowledgement of significant sacrifices that not only we have made.
But our NATO allies and scores of other countries around the world, his comments this evening were in his native language, and they were complimentary and very positive, and that's what with I think people are hearing tonight.
BLITZER: Here's the president, Senator Reed. He's about to speak. I want our viewers to hear President Obama.
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