Pact will not hurt ‘brother’ Pak: Karzai

Winding up his two-day visit,he said there was “nothing new” in the agreement — the first such pact between India and Afghanistan — and that the two countries had only “put in words what we have been doing all these years”.

The lecture was chaired by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and was attended by Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik,Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul and National Security Adviser Rangin Dadfar Spanta,US Charge d’Affaires Peter Burleigh and others from Delhi’s diplomatic corps and strategic affairs community.

The strategic partnership agreement sealed between India and Afghanistan,with special focus on security cooperation,is certain to rankle Islamabad,since Pakistan strongly opposes India’s heightened involvement in Afghanistan,which it considers its backyard.

“The signing of the strategic partnership with India is not directed against any country. It is not directed against any other entity. This is for Afghanistan to benefit from the strength of India,” Karzai added,“…so that it can train our police,doctors and students.”

Karzai also said that neither India nor Afghanistan intended that the agreement go beyond the two nations.

Pointing out that strategic partnership agreements were also in the works with the US and NATO,he emphasised that India’s investments in building roads,giving scholarships,constructing power transmission lines were also “strategic” in nature — thereby downplaying yesterday’s agreement.

Karzai also stressed that the focus of his efforts in bringing peace to his war-torn country,where international forces are set to withdraw from 2014,would now be on talking to Pakistan. However,he regretted,engagement with Islamabad had “not yet received the result that we want”.

The assassination of Kabul’s peace envoy and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani has prompted Karzai to re-examine his long-running strategy of trying to broker contacts with the Taliban to open peace negotiations.

“We have now decided not to talk to the Taliban because we don’t know their address. When we find them,we will talk to them. Therefore we have decided to talk to our brothers,our neighbours,in Pakistan,” Karzai said.

While acknowledging the efforts made by the international community towards improving the situation in Afghanistan,Karzai admitted,“Extremism and terrorism still continue,which have made the situation grave.”

The Afghan president said that his vision was for Afghanistan and South Asia to become connected through trade and transit links,and to become a peaceful and prosperous region like the European Union. “We don’t want our grandchildren to know of suicide bombers,” he said. “For this,we need bold and visionary steps.”