Sherard Cowper-Coles

Mr Karzai Comes To Town

It's Thursday morning, early.  By the time you read this, President Karzai should be on his way back to Kabul. It has been a memorable visit

We flew over last Sunday: a small and excited party, consisting of the President, and his Foreign Minister, his National Security Adviser, and me, plus half a dozen other helpers and advisers -  a pretty small party by the standards of most Heads of State and Government. 

Thanks to the generosity and imagination of The Prince of Wales, we were able to make it a visit of two halves.  A first part spent with Prince Charles near Balmoral, with just Mr Karzai's Private Secretary in attendance. .The Prince of Wales took Mr Karzai on a wonderful walk  - his favourite recreation, but one which he can't indulge too much these days, except for his daily walk round the presidential palace grounds in Kabul.  The Prince of Wales was kind enough to invite the Chief Executive of the Turquoise Mountain Foundation in Kabul, Rory Stewart, and me to join the party for dinner. Rory is a remarkable character, with a deep love and knowledge of Afghanistan.  His Foundation, which is one of The Prince of Wales's charities, is supporting the teaching of traditional Afghan crafts, from calligraphy to carpentry, and is also restoring, and creating jobs and hope, in part of old Kabul.  A remarkable story, far from finished.

After the overnight stay in Scotland, I flew South with President Karzai: back to London, and reality: an audience of Her Majesty The Queen, meetings with the Prime Minister, the Defence and International Development Secretaries (David Miliband is out of town), a lunch at Lancaster House given for the President by the Government, and hosted by Lord Malloch-Brown. 

Another chance to relax came in a day trip to Oxford, when, abandoning the motorcade, President Karzai was able to walk through the historic centre of the City and University.  He had been welcomed by the President of Magdalen College, Professor David Clary, and by the President of the Oxford Union, Luke Tryl, who is an undergraduate at Magdalen, and who later hosted President Karzai's speech at the Union.  There he was in his element, speaking with charm and force, and dealing skilfully with a range of questions from interested and engaged questioners from many different countries and perspectives.  All in all a visit to remember, put together by the Visits Section of the Foreign Office, working closely with the Afghanistan Group at the FCO and the respective Embassies in Kabul and London.  Political theatre of a kind, but very important, given the interests Britain has at stake in Afghanistan.

President Karzai at Magdalen College

Written Transcript

(Sherard) Hi, this is another instalment of the Foreign Office blog. I am with President Karzai of Afghanistan on an official visit to Britain. He has been at Balmoral with His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, he has an audience with Her Majesty The Queen this afternoon and is seeing the Prime Minister tomorrow. But we are at Magdalen College Oxford with the President of Magdalen College Oxford, David Clary, and the President of the Oxford Union, so three Presidents and the President of the Oxford Union, Luke Tryl, is an undergraduate here at Magdalen College Oxford. I am going to ask President Karzai just to say a few words for the viewers of the Foreign Office blog.

(President Karzai) Well you don't feel the power of Presidents until you are here at Magdalen College and see President Clary, Professor Clary I should say is a better way of putting it. I have from my younger days been someone who always fancied being an academic and visiting this place today I wish I had fulfilled it. I ended up in the wrong place.

(Sherard) One of the things about President Karzai is his huge intellectual curiosity, interested in books, he was quoting Tennyson to me yesterday, with the Prince of Wales talking about British agriculture, Scottish agriculture.

(President Karzai) Scottish agriculture, yes, and the love for English poetry comes from Simla which was the summer capital of the British in India.

(Sherard) Thank you President Karzai, Your Excellency, and thank you Professor Clary and Luke Tryl and that's all from the Foreign Office blog today.

Behind the scenes at an official visit

Written Transcript

(Sherard) Hi, I'm sitting in the Churchill Hotel in Portman Square in London, which is where the Foreign Office puts up many of Britain's official visitors. The last time I was here was four years ago with Prime Minister Sharon of Israel when I was Ambassador there. Now I'm here with President Karzai of Afghanistan. But an official visit isn't all glamorous events, a Buckingham Palace or the Oxford Union. Most of the work of an official visit is done by a team from the Visits Section of the Foreign Office and by a team from the Embassy of the visitor's country. And with me this afternoon is Farid Popal of the Embassy who is going to talk a little bit about his work and then Cathy Kerry is going to talk a little bit about her work in the Visits Section. So Farid, over to you first of all.

(Farid) Salam aleikum. How are you? This is to my office and British colleagues here in London. We are absolutely delighted by the positive and very generous hospitality of the British Government and we just enjoy hearing the positive news coming out of this visit. It will end up on a very positive note and the website looks fantastic. I am a big fan of this. David Miliband, the Secretary, has done a fantastic job and to all members of the Embassy, hi from London.

(Sherard) Good, thank you. Cathy. Can you just say a word for the blog?

(Cathy) Hi there, my name's Cathy Kerry and I'm Visits Officer in Visits Section in Protocol Directorate, currently involved in this visit of the President of Afghanistan. And it really is a team effort. It involves Visits Section and our drivers, who are Murray chauffeurs, and also the protection officers and obviously the Embassy, the Afghan Embassy and all those people who work together to bring this visit to a successful conclusion and it really has so far turned out to be a spectacular visit.

(Sherard) Good, thank you Cathy, thank you Farid. And that's the end of today's blog from the party accompanying President Karzai of Afghanistan on his official visit to Britain.

Posted at 16:34 25 October 2007 by Sherard Cowper-Coles  |  Comments[3]