Karzai in China on private trip

KABUL (Pajhwok): Former president Hamid Karzai has left for China on a private visit, his office said on Sunday, but gave no details.

In a statement issued to Pajhwok Afghan News, the office of Hamid Karzai in Kabul said the former president had left for China on Saturday.

It said the visit was personal and, therefore, further information could not be shared with the media. Karzai recently visited India where he attended a number of conferences in New Delhi.

In his speeches, Karzai accused Pakistan would never allow proxy wars between India and Pakistan on its soil.

During his presidency, Karzai maintained close relations with India and China and frequently visited the two countries.

Political expert Dr. Faiz Mohammad Zaland believed Karzai’s visits to India and China could bear both productive and counterproductive for the new Afghan government.

He told Pajhwok Afghan News the Kabul administration, by sending Karzai to China and India, wanted to put pressure on the West, particularly the United States, to accept its demands.

On the other hand, Zaland said, Afghanistan had signed strategic and security deals with the US and NATO and Karzai’s trips to China and India could foment political unrest at home.

He added Karzai during his last days in office had adopted a negative stance against the West and the US. Now as a statesman, the former president wants to create an eastern bloc.

ma/mud

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