30 terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan: Ghani

KABUL and the country could not be stabilized by militia forces and illegal armed groups, but by Afghan security forces.

A statement from the Presidential Palace said the president was addressing a joint conference of commanders from security and defense organs, the Afghan National Army (ANA), police, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and the Resolute Support (RS) on Wednesday night.

At the beginning, Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qadam Shah Shahim thanked the president for giving a special attention to the Afghan forces equipment.

Shahim said the conference also discussed the president’s important directives to security forces at the start of the conference.

All security and defense forces were proud of serving the country under leadership of the president, he said. The Afghan forces were ready for any sacrifices in the defence of the people, he said.

The statement quoted President Ghani as once again praising the Afghan forces’ sacrifices.

“As the president of this country, it is my responsibility to convince the world and attract attention of world leaders towards Afghanistan. It were sacrifices of our security forces that our international allies once again renewed their commitments,” the statement quoted the president as saying.

All the Afghans now knew their security forces were the only source of stability and law enforcement in the country, he said.

The president also said Afghanistan would strengthen its relations with regional countries in future.

The ongoing war in Afghanistan has foreign factors as 30 terrorist organizations operated in the country, he said, adding the war in Afghanistan had several dimensions.

Ghani thanked the United States (US) as a partner in the fight against terrorism and said the terror war had many international aspects and needed a clear international policy and strategy to be controlled.

“Terrorism is a midterm threat and we have commitments with the world to curb it because Afghan forces are fighting on the frontline of terrorism,” he said.

Ghani also said Afghanistan did not want peace from Pakistan, but it wanted peace with Pakistan.

 “The Afghan forces have protected the dignity of their people with the price of their blood, it is a permanent agreement and the people of this country respect it, I defend and support you everywhere and every moment,” he said.

Ghani said no one could blame Afghan generals for fleeing from their responsibilities because Afghan generals were the country’s pride.

“Once you wear uniform then you are united Afghans and no small politics can affect you, because our forces are national and professional,” he added.

Afghan forces had proved their worth in fighting international terrorism that they were powerful and professional, the president said.

Ghani thanked military organs’ leaders for successfully conducting the security conference and asked the officials concerned to clearly describe all technical and military requirements so they could be turned into practical plans.

mds/ma