Tag: Karzai

KABUL - President Hamid Karzai said his government had initiated a peace process with the rebels to stop the bloodshed of his countrymen.
"No one will even kill insects in such large numbers as Afghans are being killed on a daily basis," Karzai told a group of journalists in Kabul.
The president said media could play a significant role in exposing the hidden hand behind violence and insecurity in Afghanistan. He asked journalists to help make the reconciliation effort a

KABUL - Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Saturday said Pakistan supports an "Afghan-led" solution for the political settlement of Afghanistan and warned that an "outside formula" was not going to work.
Prime Minister Gilani, in a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at his presidential palace, emphasized on shaping the political settlement that was "home-based" besides being "durable and sustainable."
A Foreign Office official privy to the meeting told APP that

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani will visit Afghanistan for weekend talks with President Hamid Karzai, Islamabad said on Thursday. Gilani will fly to Kabul on Saturday at the invitation of Karzai, Foreign Office spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua told a weekly news briefing.

KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai blamed the international community on Monday for playing a part in a huge corruption scandal at the country's biggest lender, and called for a traditional "jirga" summit to review strategic ties with the United States.
The gathering of hundreds of community leaders should be held in around two or three months, he said, adding that Afghanistan would not be dominated by the bigger power.
"The first condition of this strategic partnership

ASADABAD - An emotional Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday urged international troops to "stop their operations in our land", his strongest criticism yet of mistaken killings of civilians. Karzai's comments came after a week in which a relative of his was killed in a raid by foreign forces and he rejected an apology by the US commander of troops General David Petraeus for the deaths of nine children in a NATO strike.
"I would like to ask NATO and the US with honour and

ASADABAD - Afghan President Hamid Karzai angrily criticised foreign forces Wednesday on civilian deaths, warning against daily killing after officials said nine children died in an air strike. Karzai told the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, which has 140,000 troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, that it could face "huge problems" if mistaken civilian deaths did not stop.
His statement came after an Afghan police chief said nine children died in an air

LONDON - Afghan President Hamid Karzai was to hold talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday before opening a major London exhibition of artefacts from his country. Karzai, who arrived in London late Monday for a two-day visit, is expected to discuss issues including the planned transition of security responsibility from international troops to their Afghan counterparts in 2014.
His spokesman Siamak Heravi told AFP ahead of the visit that the president would also

MUNICH - The president of Afghanistan said on Sunday he would announce the start of a process to transfer the responsibility for security to Afghan forces from international forces on March 21. NATO agreed with President Hamid Karzai at a summit in November to begin the handover to Afghan forces this year with the aim of completing the process by the end of 2014.
The Western military alliance has said it hopes to launch the process, which is aimed at a gradual reduction of the

ISLAMABAD - Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who is on a visit to Germany, Saturday held meetings with senior leadership of the country and various other world leaders on the sidelines of international security conference in Munich.
"The COAS met Prime Minister of United Kingdom David Cameron and President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai and discussed with them the issues of mutual interest," said an ISPR statement.
In separate

NEW DELHI - The leaders of India and Afghanistan held talks on Thursday in New Delhi. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a joint statement that did not mention Pakistan directly but said they discussed "the common threat faced by both their societies from terrorism."
They "agreed that the strategic partnership between India and Afghanistan is a positive factor for peace and stability in the region," the statement said. Analysts say

KABUL - President Hamid Karzai opened Afghanistan's parliament on Wednesday, ending a week-long stand-off with lawmakers who had threatened to inaugurate the legislature with or without him.
The ceremony held in a national assembly compound comes four months after the country held its second post-Taliban parliamentary elections, the results of which have met with massive controversy over claims of widespread fraud. "Congratulations to all of you," Karzai told the lawmakers after

KABUL - Reaffirming his stance on maximum mutual understanding and cooperation amongst the regional and neighbouring countries in the ongoing war on terror, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has made it clear that "no one will be allowed to use Afghan soil against Pakistan".
"Tell your country, Afghanistan is firm on its commitments with Pakistan," President Karzai told Pakistan's representative while addressing the installation ceremony of newly-elected Lower House ( Olassi Jirga)

MOSCOW - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accepted on Friday an invitation to visit Afghanistan during a milestone summit with Hamid Karzai that aimed to revive bilateral trade ties.
The embattled Afghan leader paid his first state visit to Russia amid political mayhem at home that saw a delay in the seating of a new parliament and renewed questions about his ability to lead the war-ravaged state.
But Karzai found warm support in Moscow during a visit that will also see him

NEW YORK/KABUL - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was appalled by an attack outside a UN food agency center in Pakistan that killed at least 43 people, his spokesman said Sunday.
Ban "unequivocally condemns this abhorrent act of terrorism aimed at innocent people," the spokesman said in a statement. Pakistan's first known case of a female suicide attack targeted a World Food Programme distribution point in the town of Khar.
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the

KABUL: Afghanistan announced Monday that it would scrap plans to ban private security firms working across the country, announcing instead new restrictions on their operations.
All 52 licensed companies will now continue to provide security to the international forces, the Pentagon, the UN mission, aid and non-governmental organisations, embassies and Western media companies in Afghanistan.
"Their future operations will continue in accordance with the law and regulations in

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered an investigation on Thursday into the killing by NATO forces of a former governor in southern Afghanistan, his office said.
According to Karzai's office, troops broke into the house of Haji Ibrahim, a former district governor in the southern Helmand province, earlier this week, killing him and arresting six members of his family.
Gulab Mangal, the Helmand governor, told Karzai preliminary investigations had revealed Ibrahim was

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government came under withering attack Friday, accused of trying to manipulate parliamentary election results by the political opposition and a senior vote official.
The accusations threaten to ignite nationwide anger over the second Afghan parliamentary election since the 2001 US-led invasion evicted the Taliban and to drag Karzai's administration into further controversy linked to corruption.
They come after attorney general Mohammad