President Karzai: The International Community Should Cooperate With Afghanistan In Achieving The Priorities Identified By Afghans

Publish Date: Jul 03, 2012

July 3, 2012- President Hamid Karzai met on Tuesday with Andrew Mitchell, British Secretary of International Development to discuss issues of mutual interest.

President Karzai first expressed his sadness over the death of three British soldiers who lost their lives on Monday in Helmand province and offered his condolences and sympathies to Secretary Andrew Mitchell and through him to the families of the victim soldiers and the British government.

Secretary Mitchell also expressed grief over the deaths of their troops and reassured the President that such incidents would never affect the UK’s commitment towards Afghanistan.

Pointing to the forthcoming Tokyo Conference, Mitchel said that he has been assigned to represent the British government at the Tokyo conference, which is deemed a very important gathering after the Chicago summit on Afghanistan

Andrew Mitchell added that the meeting in Japan would provide another opportunity for Afghanistan and the world to confer and define Afghanistan’s priorities for the next ten years-the transformation decade and to renew pledges of cooperation to this end.

Secretary Mitchel gave assurance to the President that Britain would continue its assistance to Afghanistan under the strategic partnership framework and would never abandon the people of Afghanistan.

President Karzai thanked Britain for its continued assistance to Afghanistan in various sectors over the past decade and described the future cooperation by the international community including Britain as important for Afghanistan.

The President underscored that the international community should cooperate with Afghanistan in achieving the priorities identified by Afghans.

President Karzai reaffirmed his commitment to take effective steps for stability and development over the next decade in Afghanistan and pave grounds for fair presidential elections in 2014.