Thirdly, we are prepared to do more in terms of police, of the gendarmes, the military police, in terms of economic aid, in order to train Afghans and Afghanize Afghanistan. We are not waging a war against Afghanistan. We are helping Afghanistan rebuild. We don’t support any given candidate. We support the right of young Afghans to look to a future, to have a future.
And on this, as on other matters, we sat down, we talked, I listened to President Obama, he listened to my problems and issues, and we tried to find solutions. That is exactly how we proceeded, that is how we intend to proceed. We will continue to work that way. And I would like to say all Frenchmen and women who are proud and happy that the President of the United States should be standing here in our country — and he’ll be returning on the 6th of June — and that we will welcome him magnificently in this Normandy, where there are so many young men from your country who are buried.
But people must regain confidence. We are aware of the difficulties. We know what the difficulties are. We know that we need global responses, respond together to these issues. And it feels really good to be able to work with a U.S. President who wants to change the world and who understands that the world does not boil down to simply American frontiers and borders. And that is a hell of a good piece of news for 2009.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you, everybody.
(Source: White House)