U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday expressed concern that the commitment of NATO allies in Afghanistan may be waning and warned against allowing the country to again become a center of extremism. Rice made clear that the Untied States cannot accept Afghanistan as a failed state where al Qaida is able to regroup and possibly use as a stage to launch future terrorist strikes. “It is an absolutely essential mission to stabilize Afghanistan,” Rice said at a news conference with Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier, whose government will begin debate early next year on whether to extend its military operations in Afghanistan beyond a February 2009 deadline. “We learned the hard way what happens when we allow a failed state to emerge in Afghanistan.” “It was the United States that was attacked on September 11, [2001] but, of course, it could have been any of us, and it has been others, as well,” Rice told reporters. “We just have to remember that in the war on terror, what we're trying to do is to help states like Afghanistan become self-sustaining states that are not going to be safe havens for terrorists.” Speaking about Canada, which has troops in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, where insurgent activity is high, Rice called Ottawa's contribution “invaluable and effective.” “I want to thank the foreign minister, but I want to thank also the people of Canada for that extraordinary contribution,” Rice said.
