Playing Catch-up With Mme. Secretary: The Hague Afghanistan Conference
April 6, 2009 by still4hill
A major objective in all diplomatic dealings on Afghanistan was the goal of peeling off the less ideological among the Taliban and winning them over to the mainstream government, a controversial policy that Hillary defends staunchly in this chapter. Referring to statements she made at the London Conference on Afghanistan in January 2010, she cites the conditions: abandoning violence, breaking with Al Qaeda, and supporting the constitution. The process is referred to alternately as reconciliation and reintegration. The links below provide Hillary's words on this issue as well as on issues concerning the welfare of women and girls in Afghanistan.
Video & Text: Secretary Clinton’s Remarks on Yemen with UK FM Miliband & Yemeni FM Al-Qirbi
January 27, 2010 by still4hill
Hillary Clinton at Afghanistan – The London Conference 01-28-10
January 28, 2010 by still4hill
Hillary Clinton’s Remarks at Afghanistan: The London Conference 01-28-10 Video & Text
January 28, 2010 by still4hill
Hillary Clinton, Busy in London
January 28, 2010 by still4hill
Reconciliation
of non-ideological insurgents remained a strong item on the agenda when
she and Robert Gates attended the NATO Summit in Brussels in October
2010.Secretaries Clinton and Gates in Brussels
October 15, 2010 by still4hill
Richard Holbrooke reasoned that if Afghanistan and Pakistan could forge relations beneficial to both, cooperation in battling terrorist activities could be strengthened. Thus came about a trade agreement signed by both countries in Islamabad in July 2010 which was the inception of "The New Silk Road."
Hillary Clinton: More Pics from Pakistan
July 18, 2010 by still4hill
Hillary refers to a roundtable with TV journalists during this trip wherein she explained the necessity for Afghan-Pakistani relations to be strengthened as well as the reconciliation agenda. It was testy, yet she remained resiliently cheerful and optimistic in her signature way (another reason we love her).
Hillary Clinton’s Roundtable in Pakistan with TV Journalists
July 19, 2010 by still4hill
She mentions that this policy was reinforced at the Lisbon NATO Conference. She did not speak there. She attended with President Obama who did the speaking that time around (but there are some amusing photos in the link below).
Hillary Clinton at NATO Lisbon: Saturday Wrap and Slideshow
November 20, 2010 by still4hill
Early the next month, with the holiday season gearing up, Richard Holbrooke became ill during a meeting with her at the State Department. She recounts the painful hours from the time he went to the infirmary in the building through his death at George Washington University Hospital. It was a devastating blow to her, to the department, to his colleagues, and to people the world over with whom Holbrooke had worked.
Update on Ambassador Richard Holbrooke
December 11, 2010 by still4hill
Update on Ambassador Richard Holbrooke
December 12, 2010 by still4hill
Ambassador Holbrooke Has Passed Away
December 13, 2010 by still4hillThe day he died, there was a holiday party at the State Department. Holbrooke's widow, Kati Marton, attended. Here are Hillary's remarks.
Video: Secretary Clinton’s Remarks at Holiday Reception for the Chiefs of Diplomatic Missions to the United States
December 13, 2010 by still4hill
Secretary Clinton’s Statement on the Passing of Richard Holbrooke
December 13, 2010 by still4hill
Although
she did not, in the book, include specific references to these next
two addresses, I am including them here as part of the record of the
Afghanistan and Af-Pak policy status at that time.Video – Secretary Clinton’s Remarks: Review of the War in Afghanistan
December 16, 2010 by still4hill
Video: Secretary Clinton’s Briefing on Afghanistan and Pakistan
December 16, 2010 by still4hill
The
memorial for Richard Holbrooke was held in mid-January 2011. At the
memorial, his friends remembered his great humor and huge personality.Slideshow: Secretary Clinton at the Holbrooke Inaugural Lecture and the Memorial Service
January 14, 2011 by still4hill
Video: Secretary Clinton’s Remarks at the Holbrooke Memorial
January 14, 2011 by still4hill
Secretary Clinton’s Remarks at the Launch of the Asia Society’s Series of Richard C. Holbrooke Memorial Addresses
February 18, 2011 by still4hill
A negotiating office where the U.S. could talk with Taliban representatives opened and quickly closed in Yemen where the Taliban made it appear too official for Karzai's liking. By the December 2011 conference in Bonn, things had turned. Pakistan did not show up, and Karzai began to distrust U.S.-Taliban negotiations. The Taliban, in turn, pulled out distrusting Karzai.
Secretary Clinton’s Remarks in Bonn on Afghanistan
December 5, 2011 by still4hill
Her
last official meeting with Karzai as secretary of state was in January
2013 shortly after she returned to D.C. following her illness and
concussion. (Not to be nitpicky, but she worked from home and even from
the hospital while she was ill, so I did not want to say she returned
"to work," She had been working all along.) She hosted Karzai at a
private dinner in the James Monroe Room and states that she appealed to
his sense of his own legacy at this meeting.Hillary Clinton with Hamid Karzai
January 10, 2013 by still4hill
She ends the chapter with a quote from Holbrooke: "The only way to start ending a war is to begin talking."
