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Karzai calls for Pakistan's help
Source: Agencies |
February 9, 2009, Monday
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Print Edition
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AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai called cross-border terrorism one of the greatest threats confronting his country and vowed yesterday to improve ties with Pakistan to combat the problem.
Speaking to a gathering of world leaders and top security officials, Karzai praised the new United States administration's more regional approach to fighting terror and welcomed President Barack Obama's appointment of Richard Holbrooke as a special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"Security can ... not come toAfghanistan, or to the region, or tothe international community, without better coordination with our neighbors," Karzai said. He also repeated his call to integrate moderate Taliban members back into Afghan society, inviting them to participate in the fall elections.
"We will invite all of those Taliban who are not part of al-Qaida, who are not part of terrorist networks, who want to return to their country, who want to live by the constitution of Afghanistan, who want to have a normal life, to come back to their country," Karzai said.
For his part, Holbrooke described the Afghan campaign as "one theater of war straddling an ill-defined border."
"We have to think of it that way and not distinguish between the two," he said.
Violence in both Pakistan and Afghanistan has risen steadily since US-led forces drove the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in 2001. Many militants fled to Pakistan's border regions, where they have established bases and continue to attack US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's new government, elected last year, appears keener to crack down on Taliban bases on its side of the border used by extremists - a commitment welcomed by both Afghanistan and the US.
The extremists are also blamed for a surge in suicide attacks on Western, government and military targets within Pakistan, including last year's devastating blast at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.
Speaking to a gathering of world leaders and top security officials, Karzai praised the new United States administration's more regional approach to fighting terror and welcomed President Barack Obama's appointment of Richard Holbrooke as a special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"Security can ... not come toAfghanistan, or to the region, or tothe international community, without better coordination with our neighbors," Karzai said. He also repeated his call to integrate moderate Taliban members back into Afghan society, inviting them to participate in the fall elections.
"We will invite all of those Taliban who are not part of al-Qaida, who are not part of terrorist networks, who want to return to their country, who want to live by the constitution of Afghanistan, who want to have a normal life, to come back to their country," Karzai said.
For his part, Holbrooke described the Afghan campaign as "one theater of war straddling an ill-defined border."
"We have to think of it that way and not distinguish between the two," he said.
Violence in both Pakistan and Afghanistan has risen steadily since US-led forces drove the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in 2001. Many militants fled to Pakistan's border regions, where they have established bases and continue to attack US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's new government, elected last year, appears keener to crack down on Taliban bases on its side of the border used by extremists - a commitment welcomed by both Afghanistan and the US.
The extremists are also blamed for a surge in suicide attacks on Western, government and military targets within Pakistan, including last year's devastating blast at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.
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