With his measured speech and good humor, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan received a very warm welcome of two standing ovations from the Georgetown community on Monday, having returned after four years to accept an honorary doctor of laws degree and the accompanying accolades.
Karzai first came to Georgetown in 2002. At the time he was chairman of the Transitional Administration in Afghanistan, created in 2001 after the Northern Alliance, which Karzai supported, overthrew the Taliban with significant U.S. support.
Karzai’s 2002 visit was referenced frequently throughout the ceremony to remind the audience of the landmark changes that Afghanistan has experienced since then.
“[There are] six million Afghan children going to school,” Karzai said during his acceptance speech, “At that time there were very few schools, very few girls … [now] 35 percent of the six million children and teenagers [in schools] are girls.”
The collaboration between Georgetown and the government of Afghanistan has centered around the provision of “educational opportunity for Afghans” and the “restoration of the rights of women,” as echoed in the speeches of Karzai and President John J. DeGoia.
Karzai also cited progress in basic health services. Four years ago a mere nine percent of the country had access to these services, compared to the 80 percent of Afghans who have access now. Infrastructure and women’s rights have improved as well, he said.
“At that time, we had no parliament,” Karzai said, asserting that now Afghanistan has “not only a parliament, but a parliament that consists of 28 percent Afghan women.”
Karzai lightened his speech to the predominantly student audience with scattered jokes, commenting that with more progress in Afghanistan, he “will come back in four and a half years to get another [degree].”
“We have moved forward; we have gained a lot … But we have problems too,” Karzai said, straying briefly from the optimistic tone of his speech. Whether for lack of time or to remain upbeat with the rest of the ceremony, Karzai did not delve further into the problems his government is grappling with right now.
Professor Brian R. Russell, an adjunct professor in the School of Foreign Service, shed some light on the problems to which Karzai may have been alluding: those of the opium production and drug-trafficking in Afghanistan that fosters corruption and may help fund Taliban activities.
“Karzai is facing limited ability to control events outside Kabul and regional towns and also a loss of political credibility, as people are beginning to question his ability to restore normalcy,” Russell said in an e-mail correspondence.
Karzai asked in his speech for the world’s, and specifically America’s, continued “encouragement,” which Russell agreed is necessary for continuing improvement in Afghanistan’s present situation.
