Well, thank you for inviting me. [Laughter] A couple of things: One, Jack, thanks very much for lending the prestige of Georgetown to advance a noble cause that I agree is in our Nation's national security interests and our moral interests, and that is the empowerment of women in Afghanistan.
Ambassador, thank you for coming; thank you for working with our Government.
And I'm so proud of Laura. She could have come in and said, "Oh, why did youdrag me into this?" [Laughter] But instead chose to use her position to take on some important causes. And the advancement of women's rights in Afghanistan or freedom in Burma are noble causes that are essential to the peace of the world. And so I thank you for your leadership on this.
I just came back from Afghanistan, Ambassador, and I told the people there that the United States will not forget them, that it's essential that the people in Afghanistan realize that even though the Presidents have changed, our commitment to Afghanistan remains very strong at the governmental level, as well as in the private sector. And I am confident that the Afghan Women's Council sends that same signal that you can take a risk for peace and freedom, that your courage won't be really isolated in the face of thugs who can't stand the idea of women having freedom.
And so I take great heart in knowing that the Afghan Women's Council will survive beyond our time. Having said that, I can assure you that Laura is going to be involved, and so will I if she lets me. [Laughter]
Anyway, I'm off to give a little talk here, but I did want to come by and thank you all very much. I thank you for representing the best of America, and I thank you for recognizing that sometimes hard things require a lot of effort. It is really hard to go from tyranny to freedom. But it's going to happen. It is inevitable, because freedom is universal.
And so I'm glad to come by, and thanks for letting me butt in.
NOTE: The President spoke at 10:15 a.m. in the Yellow Oval Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to John J. DeGioia, president, Georgetown University; and Afghanistan's Ambassador to the U.S. Said Tayeb Jawad. The transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also included remarks by the First Lady, Ambassador Jawad, and Dr. DeGioia. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.
George W. Bush, Remarks at a Reception Honoring the United States-Afghan Women's Council Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/285691
