President Karzai Returns to Kabul after
His Visit to the Province of Baghlan
Office of the Spokesman to the President
06/27/2006
Arg, Kabul - H.E. Hamid Karzai, President
of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, returned to Kabul this
afternoon after his visit to the province Baghlan where he inaugurated
the Pul e Khumri -Shirkhanbandar road.
The Pul e Khumri-Shirkhanbandar road was built
with $29,600,000 in funding from the World Bank. The 163- kilometer
road linking Baghlan with Kunduz was completed by a Chinese
construction firm in April 2006 after months of work. The completion
of this road will provide an economic boost for the provinces
of Baghlan, Kunduz and other neighboring provinces.
The President visited agricultural sites, spoke
to the farmers and gave them assurances that the government
will assign a commission to find suitable markets for their
products.
The President also visited a school and met with
students and encouraged them to continue their education.
During this visit, the President met with community
representatives from all the districts of Baghlan province which
included women, students, tribal elders, Ulemas and Government
officials.
The people of Baghlan asked for the construction
of schools, religious schools and health clinics, for the provision
of housing for teachers, for the establishment of the faculties
of engineering, agriculture, economy and religious subjects
and for the extraction of mines.
While addressing a public gathering in Pul e Khumri
the President said “Four and a half years ago, Afghanistan
embarked on a journey towards reconstruction and peace. The
completion of this project is another major step towards reconstruction
and this process will continue”
“It will take us years to achieve the progress
our people have been hoping for. Our relations with the world
have significantly expanded in the past years and our national
institutions were established. We will be able to implement
some of your proposed projects in the near future, but the other
projects are long-term projects which will take time."
The President called upon the people of Baghlan
to educate their children to end our country’s dependence
on outside expertise.
“With the strong will of the people of Afghanistan,
we have succeeded to achieve national unity, but we have not
been able to ensure that level of security desired by our people.
The enemies of Afghanistan burn our schools and kill our Ulemas.
At the present, at least 200,000 children on both sides of the
Durrand Line are not able to go to schools because the terrorists
have burnt their schools. It’s our top priority to end
this situation.”
“We are engaged in discussions with the
international community on a daily basis to save Afghanistan
and the rest of the world from terrorism and destroy its supporting
and funding sources.”
The President thanked the international community
for their support to the fight against terrorism and said “I
have repeatedly said to the representatives of the international
community that all efforts should concentrate on the sources
of terrorism where they get financed, trained, recruited and
equipped.”
“Security in Afghanistan is in the best
interest of our neighbors and we want our neighbors to realize
that peace and prosperity in our country is their peace and
prosperity.”
The President reiterated that we want friendly
relations with our neighbors and Afghanistan poses no danger
to them.
Speaking about the police reform, the President
rejected rumors about the formation of militia groups and said
“We are against the formation of militia groups and all
efforts will concentrate on the strengthening of national police
and army.”
The President expressed satisfaction at
the implementation of DIAG and said “The disarmament of
irresponsible people is vital for our country’s security
I want the people of Baghlan to cooperate with the DIAG program.”
