ID :
21929
Tue, 09/30/2008 - 13:54
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/21929
The shortlink copeid
Karzai says Zardari has right intentions to fight terrorism
New York, Sept 29 (PTI) Softening his stand on Pakistan, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said new Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari "has right intentions and right policy" to fight terrorism and appealed to the international community to back him.
Karzai, who has been accusing Pakistan of nurturing
terrorists on its land and not taking action against them,
said that the new President deserved support and assistance to
combat terrorism.
"I think he (Zardari) deserves our assistance. I have
full faith on him," he told Newsweek magazine after his
meeting with Zardari on the margins of the United Nations
General Assembly (U.N.G.A.) session last week.
Asked whether Zardari could control the country's
powerful intelligence agencies, who were suspected to be
behind the Indian Embassy bombing in Kabul in July, Karzai
said the international community should enable the current
Pakistan President to do that.
"They have the right attitude. They are on our side.
They are on the side of the international community in
fighting terrorism. That is good for Pakistan as well. We have
to give them the support and the means to deliver that,"
Karzai said.
Asked whether former Pakistani President Pervez
Musharraf did not try quite a few options, Karzai said, "Maybe
he did, maybe the west did try it with him but we did not see
results."
On his faith in new Pakistan Army Chief Gen Ashfaq
Kiyani, Karzai said he had heard good things about him as
well. "Afghanistan will do everything to give them a sense of
confidence."
Karzai did not agree with comments that Taliban had
been strengthened recently, but, said "we are not doing
things that we should be doing" such as eliminating their
sanctuaries.
Asked he was referring to Taliban sanctuaries in
Pakistan, the Afghan President did some tight rope walking,
saying "I was talking about sanctuaries. But, I am now trying
to be careful."
International community, he said, should have paid
more attention to the tribal areas, including applying right
mix of political and diplomatic efforts.
But, Karzai replied in negative when asked whether the
international troops, now operating in Afghanistan, should
have gone into tribal areas, "not militarily. They should have
used and kept open all options in order to bring security to
Afghanistan."
In the interview, Karzai touched on wide range of
issues affecting his country and stressed the need for
training Afghan forces so that they could ultimate control of
the fight inside Afghanistan.
He also made his intentions clear to run for another
term and advocated political and diplomatic efforts in
clearing tribal areas in Pakistan of al-Qaeda and Taliban and
warned that spraying to kill poppy crops would alienate the
population.
While reflecting on happenings in the tribal areas,
Karzai lamented that the problems were getting more
deep-rooted.
"As we see now, unfortunately, the problem has gone
deeper into Pakistan. The bombing recently in Islamabad [of
the Marriott hotel] is unbelievable, shocking. I've had so
many lunches and dinners in that hotel," he added.
Asked whether he had asked for deployment of more U.S.
troops in Afghanistan during his meeting with President George
W. Bush, Karzai said "it is a U.S. plan to send more forces to
Afghanistan. What we would ask is that these forces be
deployed in the right places".
He also said there must be a lot of emphasis on
training the Afghan army and the police."
On two U.S. Presidential hopefuls promising to send at
least three more brigades to Afghanistan to win the war on
terror and reduce American casualties, he said the U.S.
casualties would not be that high. Karzai felt that American
casualties were mounting recently as they had been in action
in areas, which they had not done in past six years.
"The Afghan people are not bringing casualties to the
American forces. It is the terrorists who are also attacking
us in Afghanistan. That is why we have to have the right
approach. A surge is good to concentrate at the right place.
"But at the same time we must fully back the training
and equipping of the Afghan army and police, and we must
prepare for a day where Afghanistan will be no longer a burden
on the shoulders of the United States and the rest of the
international community," Karzai said.
He said the current strategy to cut down poppy on
cultivation is working and it should be used rather than
spraying.
To a question whether spraying poppy fields to kill
the crop is the answer as insurgency is fuelled by heroin
money, the Afghan President replied that it is not the total
solution as spraying would alienate the population.
"We have been able to bring a decline in poppy
production in Afghanistan. We have freed 18 provinces in
Afghanistan from poppy production. We have reduced poppy by 19
percent this year in Afghanistan. If we continue to work that
way, Afghanistan will over time be free of poppies," he said.
PTI DS
BK
Karzai, who has been accusing Pakistan of nurturing
terrorists on its land and not taking action against them,
said that the new President deserved support and assistance to
combat terrorism.
"I think he (Zardari) deserves our assistance. I have
full faith on him," he told Newsweek magazine after his
meeting with Zardari on the margins of the United Nations
General Assembly (U.N.G.A.) session last week.
Asked whether Zardari could control the country's
powerful intelligence agencies, who were suspected to be
behind the Indian Embassy bombing in Kabul in July, Karzai
said the international community should enable the current
Pakistan President to do that.
"They have the right attitude. They are on our side.
They are on the side of the international community in
fighting terrorism. That is good for Pakistan as well. We have
to give them the support and the means to deliver that,"
Karzai said.
Asked whether former Pakistani President Pervez
Musharraf did not try quite a few options, Karzai said, "Maybe
he did, maybe the west did try it with him but we did not see
results."
On his faith in new Pakistan Army Chief Gen Ashfaq
Kiyani, Karzai said he had heard good things about him as
well. "Afghanistan will do everything to give them a sense of
confidence."
Karzai did not agree with comments that Taliban had
been strengthened recently, but, said "we are not doing
things that we should be doing" such as eliminating their
sanctuaries.
Asked he was referring to Taliban sanctuaries in
Pakistan, the Afghan President did some tight rope walking,
saying "I was talking about sanctuaries. But, I am now trying
to be careful."
International community, he said, should have paid
more attention to the tribal areas, including applying right
mix of political and diplomatic efforts.
But, Karzai replied in negative when asked whether the
international troops, now operating in Afghanistan, should
have gone into tribal areas, "not militarily. They should have
used and kept open all options in order to bring security to
Afghanistan."
In the interview, Karzai touched on wide range of
issues affecting his country and stressed the need for
training Afghan forces so that they could ultimate control of
the fight inside Afghanistan.
He also made his intentions clear to run for another
term and advocated political and diplomatic efforts in
clearing tribal areas in Pakistan of al-Qaeda and Taliban and
warned that spraying to kill poppy crops would alienate the
population.
While reflecting on happenings in the tribal areas,
Karzai lamented that the problems were getting more
deep-rooted.
"As we see now, unfortunately, the problem has gone
deeper into Pakistan. The bombing recently in Islamabad [of
the Marriott hotel] is unbelievable, shocking. I've had so
many lunches and dinners in that hotel," he added.
Asked whether he had asked for deployment of more U.S.
troops in Afghanistan during his meeting with President George
W. Bush, Karzai said "it is a U.S. plan to send more forces to
Afghanistan. What we would ask is that these forces be
deployed in the right places".
He also said there must be a lot of emphasis on
training the Afghan army and the police."
On two U.S. Presidential hopefuls promising to send at
least three more brigades to Afghanistan to win the war on
terror and reduce American casualties, he said the U.S.
casualties would not be that high. Karzai felt that American
casualties were mounting recently as they had been in action
in areas, which they had not done in past six years.
"The Afghan people are not bringing casualties to the
American forces. It is the terrorists who are also attacking
us in Afghanistan. That is why we have to have the right
approach. A surge is good to concentrate at the right place.
"But at the same time we must fully back the training
and equipping of the Afghan army and police, and we must
prepare for a day where Afghanistan will be no longer a burden
on the shoulders of the United States and the rest of the
international community," Karzai said.
He said the current strategy to cut down poppy on
cultivation is working and it should be used rather than
spraying.
To a question whether spraying poppy fields to kill
the crop is the answer as insurgency is fuelled by heroin
money, the Afghan President replied that it is not the total
solution as spraying would alienate the population.
"We have been able to bring a decline in poppy
production in Afghanistan. We have freed 18 provinces in
Afghanistan from poppy production. We have reduced poppy by 19
percent this year in Afghanistan. If we continue to work that
way, Afghanistan will over time be free of poppies," he said.
PTI DS
BK
