(23 May 2005)
1. Afghan President Hamid Karzai's car pulls up to White House
2. Zoom in to Karzai getting out of car and walking inside
3. Wide shot of US President George W Bush and President Karzai walking into news conference
4. Wide side shot of Bush and Karzai at podiums
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) George W Bush, US President
"In terms of more say over our military, our relationship is one of cooperate and consult. Of course, our troops will respond to US commanders, but our US commanders and our diplomatic mission there is in a consultative relationship with the government. It's a free society, it's a democratically-elected government. They've invited us in and we'll consult with them."
6. Medium side shot of Bush speaking
7. Cutaway Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) George W Bush, US President
"Our policy, as you know, has been to work our way through those who are being held in Guantanamo and send them back to the host countries, and we will do so over time with the Afghan government. Part of the issue is to make sure there is a place where the prisoners can be held. As I explained to the president, our policy is one where we want the people to be sent home, but two, we've got to make sure that the facilities are there, facilities where these people can be housed and fed and guarded."
9. Wide side shot of Bush and Karzai at news conference
10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Hamid Karzai, Afghan President
"We are of course sad about that (prisoner abuse), but let me make sure that you all know that that does not reflect on the American people."
11. Cutaway audience
12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Hamid Karzai, Afghan President
"So the prisoner abuse thing, is not at all a thing that we attribute to anybody but the individuals. The Afghan people are grateful very very much to the American people and recognise that individual acts do not reflect either on governments or on societies. These things happen everywhere. As we are sad, we recognise that the American people, kind as they are to Afghanistan, have nothing to do with that."
13. Cutaway audience
14. SOUNDBITE: (English) Hamid Karzai, Afghan President
"Indeed, Afghanistan is suffering from the cultivation of poppies, which is undermining our economy and it's giving us a bad name, worst of all."
15. Cutaway of Abdullah Abdullah and Rumsfeld
16. SOUNDBITE: (English) George W Bush, US President
"I made it very clear to the president that we have got to work together to eradicate the poppy crop, and the president, not only in this meeting but in other meetings, has been very forthcoming about the desire to eradicate poppy."
17. Wide shot of the two leaders shaking hands
STORYLINE:
US President George W Bush says US troops in Afghanistan will remain under US control, despite Afghan President Hamid Karzai's request for more authority over them.
"Of course, our troops will respond to US commanders," Bush said, with Karzai standing at his side at the White House in Washington on Monday. At the same time, Bush said the relationship between Washington and Kabul is "to cooperate and consult" on military operations.
There are about 20,000 US troops in Afghanistan, costing about one billion US dollars a month. That's in addition to about 8,200 troops from NATO countries in Kabul and elsewhere.
Bush also said that Afghan prisoners under US control in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and elsewhere, would be slowly returned to their home countries.
"We will do this over time," Bush said. "We have to make sure the facilities are there."
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