Saturday, March 08, 2014
Kabul (BNA) Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan after visiting Sri Lanka at the invitation of his Sri Lankan counterpart, Mahinda Rajapaska and visiting Colombo, returned home the other day.
During his tour to Sri Lankan capital Colombo, the president met with officials from research center, national and international media.
During the meeting, the president, about human rights in Sri Lanka and importance of human rights in Afghanistan said, “Peace guarantees better life and human rights’ while the war leads to violation of human rights.”
The president also noted that durable peace in our country guarantees security and human rights and from the viewpoint of Afghanistan experience the human rights should be respected.
Afghanistan is witnessing violation of human rights on daily basis and the reason for this is the war and its bad aftermath.
On the presidential elections and withdrawal of his brother from the presidential race, president Karzai said that quitting presidential race by Qayum Karzai is a right decision and I had encouraged him to drop down the contest and it depends on him to throw weight behind whom.
The president also said that quitting the race by his brother could help stop foreign interference in the electoral process and in this regard he said that foreigners had interfered in 2009 elections.
He said he wanted no excuse to be left for foreign interference in the electoral process.
Karzai also pointed that he supported no candidates in the elections and added that he wishes transparent elections as his legacy in Afghanistan, a fair elections that Afghans could freely elect their president.
In meeting with Sri Lankan media the president said that he will brief the next president about achievements over the past 12 years, success and failure.
Karzai also said that he will advise the next president about his mistakes and urges him not to repeat the past faults.
On the withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan after 2014 and Afghanistan’s relations with the international community said, “We want to have friendly relations with the whole world particularly with the west and want to have strategic relations.
“We want to have the best relations with them and the only thing we want to have that these relations lead to ensuring peace in Afghanistan”, he said. “We expect that our relations with the world community ensure ending war and returning peace to Afghanistan.”
President Karzai added that the United States of America would not withdraw from Afghanistan completely; if the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) inked limited number of troops would remain in Afghanistan. All the presidential runners promised to ink BSA if any of them elected as president.
