Kabul, March 17, SPA -- U.S. Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice said America had "learned the hard way"not to abandon Afghanistan and would not make the samemistake again, calling the country's emergence from yearsof warfare and embrace of democracy an inspiration to theworld. Rice, on her first visit to the war-ravaged country, saidthe United States made a mistake by losing its focus onAfghanistan following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989. The country plunged into years of civil war after thewithdrawal, allowing the hardline Taliban to take power andturn the country into a safe haven for Osama bin Laden andhis al-Qaida terror network. "We have a long-term commitment to this country," Ricesaid at a joint press conference with Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai. "We learned the hard way what it meant to not have along-term commitment," she said. "After the Soviet Unionleft I think it is well understood that we did not remaincommitted, and I said to the president earlier that in manyways Sept. 11 was a joint tragedy of the Afghan andAmerican people out of that period."--more1259 Local Time 0959 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/247467