Karzai: "end NATO operations in Afghanistan"

Asadabad (Afghanistan), 12th March. (ANI): President Hamid Karzai has appealed to international troops to stop operations in Afghanistan.

Speaking after visiting the relatives of nine children killed in a NATO air strike, the Dawn quoted Karzai as saying: "I would like to ask NATO and the US with honour and humbleness and not with arrogance to stop their operations in our land."

In an apparent reference to Pakistan's border areas, where insurgents have hideouts, Karzai added: "If this is a war against terrorists and international terrorism, then they should go and fight this war where we have showed them (it is) over the last nine years and is known to them as well."

"We are very tolerant people but now our tolerance has run out." Karzai was visiting Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan to meet the relatives of the nine children who were killed by a NATO air strike earlier this month while out collecting firewood," he said.

A spokeswoman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) could not be immediately reached for comment. (ANI)

Nato 'kills cousin of Afghan President Hamid Karzai'

A relative of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been mistakenly killed by Nato troops in southern Afghanistan, officials say.

Yar Muhammad Khan was at his home in Dand district near Kandahar city when he was shot dead in an overnight raid.

Nato says it is investigating the incident.

Read more at BBC

Karzai to visit Britain

KABUL, 27th Feb (AFP): Afghan President Hamid Karzai will travel to Britain on Monday for a two-day visit to meet Prime Minister David Cameron and open a major museum exhibition about his country's heritage, an official has said.

A spokesman for Karzai, Siamak Heravi, told AFP that the president would discuss issues including the planned transition of responsibility for security from international troops to their Afghan counterparts in 2014.

"Karzai will meet the prime minister, members of parliament, foreign secretary and defence secretary," Heravi said Sunday 27th Feb.

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Afghan president critical of aid bypassing Kabul

AFGHAN PRESIDENT Hamid Karzai has said that western allies were compounding his country’s corruption problems with “parallel structures” of direct aid and private security firms.

Mr Karzai told the Munich Security Conference he would commence a three-year transition of power into Afghan hands on March 21st, the Afghan new year.

However, he complained that his efforts to “focus on the drivers of corruption” were being undermined by western dealings with regional leaders that bypass Kabul.

Read full story at Irish Times

Karzai invites Medvedev to visit Afghanistan

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has met his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai in Moscow. The two leaders discussed trade cooperation, security, cultural issues and the pressing matter of countering international drug trafficking.

Hamid Karzai arrived in Moscow on Thursday evening on his first official visit to Russia. However, it is the fourth time the two presidents have held talks. In an interview with Russia Today, Karzai praised the cooperation between Russia and Afghanistan and said, in particular, that Russians understand Afghans better than Americans do.

Read full story at RT