KABUL (SW): Presdient Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said on Sunday that his adminstration and the people of Afghanistan would never surrender to an “imposed war”.
He said this while addressing the media at the Presidential palace alongisde Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, the visiting Croatian president. The President said terrorist networks that have targeted the neighboring countries as well, have planned to use Afghanistan in order to bring chaos to the region and the Islamic world.
According to Ghani, war was not solution to the problem but a coherent and strong strategy could bring all Afghans together. For external threats, he said, there should be external programmes through a security and economic pact with regional countries since the threats could not be thwarted single handedly.
“The war on Afghanistan has been imposed and we won’t surrender to it. We would respond to it by war without forgetting the hope of peace,” he added.
The Afghan President recalled the time when the current Croatian president was serving as foreign minister and aide to the NATO Secretary General and helped in facilitating internet access to 22 Afghan universities, peace and development in Afghanistan, and supporting Afghan security forces under the Resolute Support Mission. He tanked Croatia for its continuous support for an independent, peaceful and developing Afghanistan.
The Afghan President hailed religious leaders for their support to the national security forces.
Pointing to Islamic relations between the two countries, President Ghani said that the leader of Croatian Islamic Community Mr. Aziz Hasanovic and the Head of Afghanistan Ulema Council Qyamuddin Kashaf will discuss in details the cooperation between Afghan and Croatian Ulema
On her part, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic called Afghanistan her second home. She expressed enduring commitment of her country to Afghanistan and invited President Ghani to visit Croatia at a convenient time.
The Croatian President noted that 50% of Croatian international assistance has been allocated for Afghanistan.
ENDS
