Kabul: Preparing for the eventual exit of international forces, Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on Saturday on his own police and army to get ready to take charge of protecting and defending the nation.
Karzai's speech — upbeat with nationalistic themes — was an apparent move to bolster Afghanistan's image as a sovereign nation that must plan for its future despite its heavy reliance on international troops and aid. Karzai said US and Nato forces will leave Afghanistan once they no longer feel the need to stay for their own national security interests.
When that happens, Afghans must be ready to protect the borders, the people and have good governance, he said.
"Unfortunately today we do not have this capacity and capability," he said at the presidential palace where he promoted 28 members of the Afghan police, army and intelligence service.
Karzai cautioned the 100 members of the security forces in the audience not to rely on a longtime presence of international forces — that they should use the current time to bolster their capacity.
"It is possible that one day this international community, which is with us today, will not see a benefit in Afghanistan any more and leave us — like they left us in the past," he said. "What then is the task of the Afghan people, the Afghan government and the Afghan armed forces? Maintaining and developing the national interests of our country."
Karzai's speech recounted three decades of history in Afghanistan, including US efforts to arm the mujahideen in the 1980s, which helped speed the defeat of the Soviets in Afghanistan. Afterward, however, Afghanistan's international allies did not continue to help.
"The US, Britain, France and many other countries closed their embassies in Afghanistan because they didn't see any more benefit to being here after the jihad victory over the Soviets," he said.
Separately yesterday, officials announced nine drug traffickers have been sentenced to up to 17 years and given stiff fines by the Primary Court of the Criminal Justice Task Force for trafficking 19kg of heroin, 440kg of opium and 11kg of hashish.
Drug crackdown
Khalil Rahman Motawakel, a spokesman for the task force, said the longest sentence was handed down to three traffickers from Helmand province in the south. The announcement was seen as part of Afghanistan's effort to demonstrate it is cracking down on the illegal drug trade, which is a major source of revenue for the country's insurgency.
Also in the restive south, coalition forces said they found more than 460kg of ammonium nitrate in a village in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province on Friday. They said more than 20 homemade bombs could have been made with the amount of material discovered.
