In his inauguration speech on December 7, 2004, Afghanistan’s first democratically-elected President, Hamid Karzai, said: ” ‘Whatever we have achieved in Afghanistan–the peace, the election, the reconstruction, the life that the Afghans are living today in peace, the children going to school, the businesses, the fact that Afghanistan is again a respected member of the international community–is from the help that the United States of America gave us. Without that help Afghanistan would be in the hands of terrorists–destroyed, poverty-stricken, and without its children going to school or getting an education. We are very, very grateful, to put it in the simple words that we know, to the people of the United States of America for bringing us this day.’ ”
– Stephen F. Hayes, Cheney, Pages 469-470