Karzai hails Obama’s remarks on Afghanistan

KABUL in the annual state-of-the-union address.

A day earlier, Barack Obama said in his speech he was ready to keep a small force in Afghanistan post 2014, once the negotiated Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) was signed.

“For a while our relationship with Afghanistan will change, one thing will not: our resolve that terrorists do not launch attacks against our country,” said Obama, who noted that after 2014, the US would support a unified Afghanistan as it took responsibility for its own future. 

President Karzai, in a statement from his office, hailed Obama’s remarks as beneficial for bilateral relations. Deadlines for signing the BSA aside, Karzai believed both countries should work patiently and collaborate at the public launch of the peace process.

The time had come to put an end to negative propaganda against Afghanistan, he said, adding  peace was central to the stability, progress and unity of any country.

Afghanistan, therefore, considered a substantive peace drive a basic condition for signing the security pact on a future American military presence, he concluded.

pr/mud

Visits: 0