Afghan Foreign Minister to ‘Vestnik Kavkaza’: Azerbaijan and Georgia help us

Azerbaijan and Georgia have significantly helped Afghanistan in providing security, Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs of Afghanistan Hekmat Khalil Karzai said, answering the question of ‘Vestnik Kavkaza’ at a press conference during his first diplomatic visit to Moscow.

"Azerbaijan and Georgia help us. We have bilateral relations with the two countries, and we continue to develop friendly relations with them. In addition, Georgia has been involved in the ISAF NATO mission, and now it participates in the Alliance’s ‘strong support’ non-combat mission.The ‘strong support’ mission has a very specific purpose: it is irrelevant to hostilities, as it is aimed at training, assistance and consultations of the Afghan security forces. Thus, they help us to strengthen our security services and military,’’ he said.

Responding to the next question of ‘Vestnik Kavkaza’ about life of the Tajik population in Afghanistan, Karzai said all people living in the country, regardless of their ethnicity, are the Afghan citizens. "They have absolutely the same rights guaranteed by the Constitution like the Afghans because they are also the Afghans. For us their ethnic identity is unimportant. But it is important that they are citizens of our country. The participate in the life of Afghanistan and contribute to all Afghans,’’ Deputy Foreign Minister of Afghanistan said.

During a press conference, Karzai noted that he hoped to strengthen cooperation between Russia and Afghanistan. "Talks on bilateral relations took place today in the morning and our Russian colleagues expressed their readiness to support the peace process in Afghanistan. Russia's role in the region is very important for us,’’ he underlined.

Among the discussed topics were the SCO, promotion of Afghan goods in the Russian market, and the exchange of experiences in the field of security. "We want to be full members of the SCO, and we expect that Russia will support us in this direction. We also discussed the extension of trade relations between Russia and Afghanistan.

We also have a proposal to simplify the visa regime for business and education by sending 50 diplomats to receive education in various fields. In general, the atmosphere was positive at the talks. I can say that there are conditions for a meeting between the heads of the states," Hekmat Khalil Karzai said.

The economy is of great importance for present day Afghanistan, the Deputy Foreign Minister drew his attention of. "We want to show that we can offer the world. Afghanistan is not only violence. We have conditions for investments. We deserve a better life. Afghanistan is an independent country, and we will pursue our foreign policy based on our own interests,’’ he concluded.