Ahead of his meeting with US President George Bush, The Afghan President said he wants greater control over American military operations in his country and punishment for any US troops who mistreat prisoners.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai made a torrid attack on the Pakistani leadership in a face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and demanded that Islamabad produce top Taliban leaders to negotiate with him. Karzai confronted the Pakistanis at an official delegation-level talk on Thursday in Islamabad between the two countries on the sidelines of a trilateral summit meeting of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.
Hamid Karzai's first priority after getting re-elected as Afghanistan's president is to open peace talks with Pakistan in an attempt to end the Taliban insurgency raging across their shared border, one of his top aides has said.
Karzai was administered the oath of office by the head of Supreme Court Abdul Salam Azmi at a grand ceremony at the presidential palace in the presence of 800 guests, including External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.
Karzai will hold comprehensive talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after which the two countries are expected to ink a strategic pact to streamline the various assistance programmes of India and institutionalise bilateral security dialogue.
On Friday, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai claimed that former president Burhanuddin Rabbani's killing was plotted in the Pakistani city Quetta.
Several foreign dignitaries including US Vice President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld attended the ceremony.
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai slams Pak, defends India's role in Afghanistan
Setting up conditions for peace talks with the Taliban, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai said on Friday that the group's leader Mullah Omar must talk for peace, accept Afghan constitution and denounce violence.
'President Karzai's visit is an occasion to refine our thinking apropos the 'reintegration' and reconciliation strategy toward the Taliban.'
The United States administration on Monday rolled out the red carpet for Hamid Karzai and his entourage, barely six weeks after the White House seriously considered canceling the invitation extended to the beleaguered Afghanistan president.In March, President Obama had made a surprise visit to Kabul and read out the riot act to Karzai. While inviting the Afghanistan president to Washington, Obama had also rebuked him for his failure to end massive corruption.
The security of all provinces will be under Afghan leadership within five years. This was the pledge made in London on Thursday at a conference aimed at aligning the international community with the reintegration plan set out by President Hamid Karzai.
The president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai on Thursday renewed his call to Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar to give up violence.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is among the foreign leaders invited to Narendra Modi's swearing-in as prime minister on May 26 which Afghan President Hamid Karzai has decided to attend.
The man who shot dead Afghanistan President Hamid Kazai's half brother Ahmed Wali Karzai was hanged in a public square in Kandahar city.
The US government has urged Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai to stop a secret Iran-Taliban pact against North Atlantic Treaty Organistion troops in Afghanistan.
Notwithstanding President Hamid Karzai's reluctance to sign the bilateral security agreement, the United States has said that though it is open to signing of the pact later in the year, the longer it takes the more challenging it will be to execute any mission post 2014 in Afghanistan.
Launching another broadside against Pakistan, Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday said the Taliban, that has launched some audacious attacks in his country will not be able to "move a finger without Pakistani support."
India is expected to ink four pacts, including one in the field of mining with mineral-rich Afghanistan during the four-day visit of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who arrived in Mumbai on Friday.
Signalling a strained relationship with Hamid Karzai, United States has indicated that Afghanistan President's White House invitation could be withdrawn if he continues with his anti-US rhetoric.
In a delicate balancing act, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday described India as a 'close friend', while referring to Pakistan and Afghanistan as 'conjoined twins'.In remarks apparently aimed at assuaging Pakistan's concerns about the Indian presence in Afghanistan, Karzai said his country would never allow its soil to be used for activities directed against any of its neighbours.At the same time, Karzai was in Pakistan on a two-day visit.
'I've been a member of the family really. But I certainly am critical of a number of the ways that, in particular the President, has run his country.'
"He is right to say that I know the facts (about what is happening in Afghanistan). I indeed know the facts, but I also know a lot of facts in Pakistan," said Karzai.
Newsweek has carried a report that says Karzai's move may not have been wise.
On the eve of Hamid Karzai's visit, US President Barack Obama has instructed his senior national security team to stop berating the Afghan President and treat him with more public respect, a prominent newspaper reported on Sunday. During a White House meeting last month, Obama made clear to officials that Karzai is the chief US partner in the war effort and it will be reflected in his visit to Washington that begins on Monday, Washington Post reported.
Secret three-way talks between the United States, Afghanistan and Taliban have begun, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said.
Slamming the United States for lack of cooperation in the probe into the massacre of 16 villagers in a house-to-house rampage by an American army sniper, an enraged Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Friday said he is at the "the end of the rope".
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Islamabad on Thursday on a two-day state visit for bilateral talks and to attend a tri-lateral summit of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan that will focus on the regional security situation, officials said.
Issuing a stern warning to the Karzai government President Barack Obama said the days of blank cheques are over and Kabul will have to show progress not only in governance but also providing security to its own people.
The New York Times quoted the officials as saying that Karzai was moving toward accepting the findings of an international audit that stripped him of nearly a third of his votes in the first round, leaving him below the 50 percent threshold that would have allowed him to avoid a runoff and declare victory over his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai made a telephone call to his American counterpart Barack Obama to express his condolence on death of more than 30 US soldiers in a helicopter crash.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Islamabad on Friday on a two-day visit during which he will hold talks with Pakistan's leadership to boost the reconciliation process with the Taliban in the war-ravaged country.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai wants the elusive Taliban chief Mullah Omar to run for President in next year's election so that people could "vote for or against him".
United States President Barack Obama, during his unannounced visit to Afghanistan, assured his counterpart Hamid Karzai of smooth transition of the country's security to Afghan forces as American troops will begin winding down next summer.
Visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday assured the United States that with a strong security force, Afghanistan would not be threatened by terrorists from across its borders post-2014 when the America-led international force withdraws from the war-torn country.
"Afghanistan is now stable but is grappling with problems like illiteracy and health care. There is need to build institutions to resurrect the country and we are doing it," Karzai said.
A day after the worst attacks since the rout of the Taliban, the Afghan president said Taliban leader Mullah Omar was a coward who was hiding in Pakistan and sending youngsters to kill Afghans.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has confirmed that his government has begun informal talks with Taliban "for quite sometime" and hoped that the formation of a peace council will spur these efforts. "We have been talking to the Taliban as countrymen to countrymen," Karzai said in an interview to CNN, days after the American media had reported that secret high-level talks were underway.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances