HRC: Ix-nay on the Ope-hay

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Finally, with regard to both Iraq and Afghanistan, we need more of something that is often in short supply here in our country: patience. I was struck, during our briefing at the embassy in Kabul, by a comment made by one of our U.S. aid workers, who had recently returned from the Southeast and had met with a number of former Taliban, so-called former Taliban. And one of these former Taliban said, "Americans may have all the watches, but we have all the time." I think it's a lesson that we forget at our peril. This will not be an easy undertaking. It will require patience, and it will require the continuing support of the American people.

I was struck, in my briefing with Ambassador Bremer -- his frequent reference to the American occupation in Germany. I think we've all heard Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary Wolfowitz and others refer to the German example. There certainly are lessons to be learned from that, and in some respects we have actually exceeded the time line in place there. The banking system is further along than it was at the time in the post-World War II era in Germany. There is a central bank that's up and going, to some extent.

But it took 10 years to create a stable, sovereign government, and we still have troops in Germany, as we do in Japan, as we do in South Korea, as we do in Bosnia, as we do in Kosovo. So the idea that we can somehow bring about dramatic transformational change in either a short period of time or with a relatively limited financial commitment is contradicted by our own history. And therefore we have not only the need for patience but a sense that we are going to be involved over the long run, or we will not guarantee or create the conditions for potential success.

There are a lot of lessons that perhaps we can learn from already looking back at Iraq and Afghanistan. The overriding lesson I take away is the need for international support. And that has become almost a mantra, and people say it, and no one's quite sure what it means, but everyone keeps saying it. But to me, it is clear that just as we were reminded with the quote that I recited from Leslie Gelb that our interests are often embedded in American internationalism, I think have seen that clearly.

December 15, 2003
Hillary Rodham Clinton