SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY'S REMARKS AT EMBASSY IN ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
Embassy Islamabad Meet and Greet
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
U.S. Embassy
Islamabad, Pakistan
August 1, 2013

AMBASSADOR OLSON: Mr. Secretary, good morning. Colleagues, it is my great honor and privilege to introduce a man who needs no introduction here, especially, Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been to Pakistan more times than I think we can count. This is his first visit as Secretary of State, but of course, he is well known as a good friend of Pakistan.

And Mr. Secretary, it’s my honor to introduce you to the staff of the American Embassy in Islamabad. It’s one of our bigger missions in the world, and today you’ll have a chance to see the large building that we’re putting up over on the horizon on this side. But it’s really the people that make this mission. It’s a very dedicated, courageous, hardworking staff. We think we’re one of the best in the world. I’d particularly like to note the contributions of our locally engaged staff, who face many challenges in doing their work, have been with us for many years. I’d like to call out Abdullah Zafar, who is the longest standing – yes, sorry – (applause) – of the Embassy. He’s been here 30 years. And so we have a – and he’s standing in to represent all of our locally engaged staff.

So again, welcome, Mr. Secretary. Thank you very much for joining us. (Applause.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much. Good morning, everybody. As-Salaam Alaykum. Nice to see everybody, and Ramadan Kareem to those of you who are celebrating. And I can’t believe it. Do those fans really work over there? (Laughter.) Or is this a joke? I thought there was a great sense of humor when I walked out and I saw a line of fans down here. These blow the hot air around. Anyway.

It’s great to be here with all of you. As Ambassador Olson said, I have been here many, many times. Many of you have supported me in my visits here as a senator, and I’m deeply, deeply appreciative for everything that you do. So thank you, this is always a fascinating place to come to. I learned today that you have signs in front of the cafeteria that say, “Don’t feed the cats, don’t feed the mongoose, and don’t feed the jackals.” Not everywhere in the world can you find signs like that, I want you to know. (Laughter.) It makes it special.

But I want to congratulate Rick for the job he is doing. He seems to draw tough assignments – Iraq, Afghanistan, now Pakistan. And the reason he keeps getting them is because he does a hell of a good job. And we need good people in good places, so – (applause). And Dick Hoagland, thank you very much, sir, likewise. You’ve been around the horn in a lot of places, and I know you began – he began 27 years ago as a junior officer in Peshawar, for those of you who don’t know it. And so it sort of goes full circle, I guess, and now you can’t – it’s hard to go to Peshawar. We have to change that. We’re working on it.

A profound thank you to all of you. It’s a great privilege to serve as President Obama’s Secretary of State. As I think all of you know, it is a privilege to serve in the Foreign Service or in the Civil Service or to be here as local employees. And I would like just all the local employees, I want you to raise your hands, all local employees. Look at that. We cannot do this without you. Thank you. Thank you very, very much. (Applause.) Shukran.

And I know that sometimes it’s difficult. Sometimes you get a little harassment or somebody says, “Well, why are you working for the Americans? What’s this all about?” I have raised this issue previously in my visits here with President Zardari, with former Prime Minister Gilani and others, with the ambassadors from Pakistan who come to the United States. I don’t know many other countries that try to do as much good as we do. And I certainly don’t know – I’ve been up in the mountains when we delivered earthquake assistance. And I remember seeing those kids who came down out of the mountains and put on a uniform and went to school for the first time in their lives at age 12 and 13 and 14 and 15. And their parents loved it and they loved it.

And I think that all of the work that we do is really in the interests of people. That’s why I led the effort to put in place something called Kerry-Lugar-Berman, which was $7 billion over five years to make a statement that we weren’t just being transactional, we weren’t interested in just the day-to-day security relationship or in whatever the problems are with insurgencies; we’re interested in the people of Pakistan, and we want the people of Pakistan to know what we’re doing. And I will call on the politicians here, as I have previously, to stop playing to the lowest common denominator, where they begin to attack – because we make a good target, we’re big, we’re powerful, and we do a lot of things. But I think we do it for the right reasons, and I think you can all be very, very proud of that, and we’re proud of you.

So I want to thank you for your willingness to be here. Obviously, a difficult post. All you have to drive through the zone and you understand how difficult it is. And we know the history. My dream, and I think your dream, is that we can actually find a day when people fight their battles in the parliament debating and talking to each other and voting and living with what the majority makes a decision, and if they don’t like it, you go out to the country and you have an election.

This is an historic transition that just took place. Nobody should diminish it. I was here with now Vice President Biden and now Secretary of Defense Hagel. We were here just the three of us together when the election took place in 2005, I guess it was. And we came here to view the election, which was the first time there had been a transfer of the presidency in a peaceful way at the ballot box. I think President Zardari deserves credit that now these years later, after a full term of office, there has been a peaceful transfer of power to an opposing party. That’s progress. It’s an enormous step forward. It’s historic. And in the 66-year history of Pakistan, that has never happened.

So change comes over time. Remember we tend to sort of think that things are always the way they are today. They weren’t for the United States. We had a first round on our Constitution and it didn’t work so well. Remember? Well, you don’t remember firsthand, but you remember from the history books, right? And what happened was we had to meet again in 1789, come up with another constitution. And guess what? We had slavery written into our Constitution before it was written out, and we had our own Civil War. And it wasn’t until the late 1800s, 1863-5, we got rid of that in the Emancipation Proclamation. And it wasn’t until 1965 that people actually had a Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. And ladies and gentlemen, we are still fighting some of these battles.

So remember that as you go about this task. And I would just say to you very, very quickly, because it is hot and I don’t want to keep you all here, being in the Foreign Service, I think – I say this because I was a Foreign Service brat, I was 11 years old when I first traveled abroad – that I have great respect for what you all go through – how different and difficult and challenging but exciting it is to go to another country, learn another language, learn the culture and meet the people, make friends, and carry our values with you in ways that make a difference to people for a lifetime. You have no idea how many foreign ministers, prime ministers, finance ministers, presidents of countries I meet who proudly tell me of their years studying in the United States of America or on a Fulbright or doing something, or their kids are in America today at a university or a school. And now many of those universities are opening up adjunct universities in all of these other countries, in China, in Abu Dhabi. And you run the countries, they’re all over the place. Egypt.

So this is a great, great undertaking. It’s a great adventure. And I thank you on behalf of everybody in the United States for being the brave, courageous pioneers who are willing to step out and be part of this kind of an endeavor.

Now, sadly, sometimes, because we are a great extended family, we suffer losses together. And I think you all have heard the news, the sad news that we lost Meghan Aberle, who passed away several days ago in Bogota, literally three days after she arrived there, in her sleep. We do not know what happened – 32 years old, she served all of you here in human resources. She loved doing what she was doing. She’d been to all these exciting places in her life, in her short life. So we miss her today, but I’m confident – and I talked yesterday with her sister and there’s great pride. She comes from Massachusetts and there’s a great pride of service, a great pride in the friendships she made here. And I want every single one of you to continue to work in memory of her and Anne Smedinghoff and others that we lose and have lost along the way. Nobody said this is easy. It was always difficult.

So thank you very, very much for everything that you’re doing. I look forward to having a chance to say hello to a few of you now. Keep up the good work, and we’re going to keep fighting and backing you up in every way that we can. Thank you. (Applause.)

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY'S REMARKS AT U.S. EMBASSY IN NEW DELHI, INDIA

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Meeting With Staff and Families at Embassy New Delhi
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Embassy New Delhi
New Delhi, India
June 25, 2013

AMBASSADOR POWELL: Mr. Secretary, please. A very big thank you to you. We are delighted that you came. I think yesterday advanced our relationship with India, this very, very key relationship, in very important ways. And I assure you that team India not only has prepared for your visit, but we will prepare for the next one by working on that action plan that you talked about, and we are delighted that we were able to welcome you. We hope the rain will hold off just a little while longer, but I want to say how very, very proud I am of my team, including those who didn’t see mom and dad for a while while we were preparing, and to say, "Please come again, and thank you very much."

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you so much, Nancy. Thank you very, very much. Thank you. (Applause.) Good to see everybody. Thank you. Thank you very, very much. Thank you all for taking time. I know it’s a trek to get over here to the Embassy, and it’s a little bit difficult and I’m really appreciative of – for all of you struggling to get over here. Does it get a little cooler when the rain comes or not? (Laughter.) I don’t know.

Hi, kids. How are you? You guys look great. Are you awake? (Laughter.) Are you? Come on up here. Come up here with me. I want all the kids to come up here. Come on guys. Come on. Come on up here. Because you guys are what this is all about. How are you doing, buddy? Are you doing all right? That a boy. (Laughter.) Come on up here, kids. Come on. Let’s just make a big crowd up here. You guys will make me look good. I can hide behind you. (Laughter.) Actually, I better get out of here so I can talk.

Anyway. How are you all? Are you guys having fun? Is this the – who’s first time trip to another country? Anybody here? So all of you have been somewhere else? This is your first time, right?

PARTICIPANT: Mm-hmm, yes.

SECRETARY KERRY: Where are you from?

PARTICIPANT: America. (Laughter and applause.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Okay. Where are you from?

PARTICIPANT: America and Thailand.

SECRETARY KERRY: America and China. That’s fantastic.

PARTICIPANT: Thailand.

SECRETARY KERRY: Oh, Thailand. I’m sorry. (Laughter.) Thailand. Okay. Gosh, shame on me. And how about you? Have you been to other countries, too?

PARTICIPANT: Five.

SECRETARY KERRY: Five countries. Wow.

PARTICIPANT: Including the U.S. (Laughter.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Including the U.S. Hey, all right. Well, I’m glad you’re including the U.S. That’s great. And who – how old are you?

PARTICIPANT: I’m 14.

SECRETARY KERRY: Fourteen.

PARTICIPANT: (Off-mike.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Thirteen?

PARTICIPANT: (Off-mike.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Eleven – twelve. (Laughter.) Well, did you just turn 12 today? (Laughter.) Okay. It’s hard to remember sometimes.

I was exactly his age when I went away as the son of a Foreign Service officer. And I went to Berlin, Germany, after the war in the – I’m going to date myself, now, guys. This was in the 1950s, and it was at the height of the Cold War, obviously. But it was really, really interesting. So you guys are going to have the experience of a lifetime and you’re going to have advantages over everybody else, because you’re going to know other countries and some languages and have a lot of fun, too, right? Right? Yeah. (Laughter.) Okay. Anyway.

Well, I want to thank everybody very, very, very much. It’s a privilege for me to be here at Embassy Delhi, and – no, stay up here guys. You can stay up here. Don’t go away. (Laughter.) Where you going? You got somewhere to go? (Laughter.)

PARTICIPANT: (Off-mike.)

SECRETARY KERRY: What did he say?

PARTICIPANT: Because they said so.

SECRETARY KERRY: Oh, they said so. No, no. That’s just the Ambassador. Don’t worry about her. (Laughter.) Ambassador. I want to thank – Ambassador Powell is one of our great professionals, and you all are very, very lucky to have her. She’s been in so many countries – Ghana and Africa and various places – Pakistan. We are very, very honored to have her expertise here in helping to build a relationship that is so important. And that goes for every single one of you. This is one of our largest embassies in the world, as all of you know. We have about 254 folks who are what we’d call direct hires, and a whole bunch of families over here, and about a thousand-plus local hires – and I see some of them here – (baby crying) – and I want to thank you because it’s time to eat over here. (Laughter.) He just wants to be part of the deal.

I really want to thank all of you who are from India or are from a third country because there’s no way possible for us to do what we try to do to build relationships with the people of your country without your help. And so everything that you do is so critical for us, and everybody, including those of you who are Indian or from another country, you’re kind of adopted in a way in terms of your responsibilities because you become ambassadors for us. And because you work with us and you work in this effort to try to build a relationship, every time somebody meets you they get a sense of you and they get a sense of us through you. And that goes, obviously, for every one of you who’s American, who is part of the Embassy – thank you on behalf of President Obama and your country.

This – India – I started coming here about 20 years ago – a little bit more actually – and I’ve always believed that the relationship with India is potentially down the – as we build it – literally one of the most important that we’re going to have on this planet. The reason for that is because this country is so teeming with energy and with innovation and a kind of excitement. There’s a freedom to talk about everything and anything. They love to debate, as you know. There’s a huge sort of confrontation with ideas, and yet there’s a huge diversity, this incredible diversity and pluralism that gets along. It works it. Not always; sometimes there are tensions. But there are tensions everywhere, including in the United States.

But fundamentally, this is a democracy, largest in the world, extraordinary place that is so important to everything that happens to the west of here, all the way to the Caspian Sea, what happens with Afghanistan, its relationship with Iran; all the way to the east, to China, to Japan, to the Asia Pacific. So its size of its economy, its values, and its aspirations and the energy of the people make India a vital partner to everything that the United States is fighting for and stands for.

So I just want to thank you, all of you, for everything that you do to do this sometimes lonely work, sometimes difficult – often difficult work as you carry the values of our country and try to build a relationship that makes a difference. What we’re working for is peace and stability and friendship and opportunity and a chance for people to live their dreams and reach their aspirations and share in the freedom that we have been blessed with ever since our founding fathers fought for it for our own independence.

So our journey should connect to people, and we need to do more. That’s part of our mission, to make sure that every moment that it does connect for all the right reasons. So I want to have a chance to say hello to everybody and relieve these moms from the burden of keeping their kids quiet – (laughter) – and take a moment here to say hi. And I just want to thank you all for coming out here. I want to thank you for what you do, and I look forward to having a chance to say hello and meet you. And I understand there’s a tradition that when I get out of town there’s a wheels-up party. (Laughter.) Okay, you guys have a good time. I’ll be going to work. But anyway, thank you all very, very, very much. Great to be with you. Thank you. (Applause.)