New leader bids farewell to Rabbani + news conference
(22 Dec 2001) 1. Afghanistan's interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai enters news conference 2. Pan from media to Karzai 3. SOUNDBITE (English) Hamid Karzai, interim Prime Minister of Afghanistan "The number one priority is to maintain and further promote peace and stability in Afghanistan and to give the Afghan people an opportunity to live at absolute ease." 4. Cutaway 5. SOUNDBITE (English) Hamid Karzai, interim Prime Minister of Afghanistan "The assessment for the reconstruction of Afghanistan and the help required for it has been going on for a very long long time. We basically need billions of dollars to overcome the difficulties in all spheres of economic activity and the infrastructure, the revival of certain industries, the revival of agriculture, school and hospitals. There is really no area in which Afghanistan will not require assistance." 6. Cutaway 7. SOUNDBITE (English) Hamid Karzai, Interim Prime Minister of Afghanistan "I think all members of the cabinet are behind the need for us to have the multinational force, the UN led force. It's been already agreed upon and the UN peacekeeeping force will arrive." 8. SOUNDBITE (English) Hamid Karzai, Interim Prime Minister of Afghanistan "I heard that. Someone was supposed to come to me yesterday and I was supposed to meet him to hear a first hand account from him as to what has happened and I will definitely check this with our American friends and see what is the case. But I don't think it is true because the first information that I got was that there was no such bombing but I'll find out." 9. Cutaway 10. SOUNDBITE (English) Hamid Karzai, Interim Prime Minister of Afghanistan "If we deliver to the Afghan people what we promised this will be a great day. If we don't deliver this will go into oblivion. I hope that we will deliver properly to the Afghan people and this day will be remembered nicely." 11. Wide of former Royal Palace, now called the Presidential palace 12. Afghan soldiers in full dress uniform marching 13. Close up of marching feet 14. Hamid Karzai arrives to farewell Rabbani 15. Karzai and Rabbani talking on palace steps 16. Various of British Royal Marines guarding palace STORYLINE: Sworn in as Afghanistan's first peacetime prime minister, Hamid Karzai said Saturday he has no illusions about the difficult challenge ahead, rebuilding a nation shattered by 23 years of war, deeply divided by ethnic and tribal loyalties and economically ruined. But the mantle of power has been passed to him and his 29-member Cabinet, he told a news conference, and history will judge how they meet the challenge. "If we deliver to the Afghan people what we promise, it will be a great day, and if we don't, then we will go into oblivion," Karzai told reporters barely two hours after taking the oath of office in a ceremony attended by world leaders and tribal elders. Karzai, a 44-year-old Pashtun leader, was selected to head the interim Cabinet at a United Nations-sponsored meeting of Afghans in Germany. His term of office is only six months. In that time, his Cabinet is expected to launch Afghanistan on the road to revival and organize a loya jirga, or grand council, that will choose a government to rule for two years while laying the groundwork for elections. Karzai said the task ahead is a daunting one and that his priorities will be security and economic development. But he warned that Afghans cannot do it alone. They are desperately poor, have no infrastructure to speak of, and the education level has been dragged down to barely literate by decades of relentless conflict. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
