‘We can’t jump time on nation-building’

Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, talks to BBC World’s Sanjeev Srivastava in Kabul about the security situation in Afghanistan, ...

Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, talks to BBC World’s Sanjeev Srivastava in Kabul about the security situation in Afghanistan, the slow pace of the reconstruction process and the nature of Afghanistan’s relationship with United States and Pakistan. Excerpts:

• So are you worried by what the Human Rights Watch has said about warlords and political strongmen creating a climate of fear across the country with their private armies?
The question of the security of the common Afghan man is something we are concerned about from the very beginning of the interim government and the transition government till today. There is no doubt that there are violations, committed by certain gun holders. There is no doubt that the Afghan people have been killed in quite a number, in some of these skirmishes between various groups but the intensity of this, the spirit of this has reduced considerably, a lot, we don’t have many instances of that. The programme that we have for the creation of the national army, the national police force and the training of the national police force and the training of the national army is in accordance with the standards that are observed in other countries, civilised countries where such violations are reduced.

• There have been more announcements really rather than doing of these things…
We cannot jump time on this. Nation building is an arduous process, Afghanistan got all its institutions destroyed, almost to the ground, it has to rebuild it and it will take time, building a road will be done in a year’s time, building an apartment or an office structure will be done in two months, 5-6 months, a year’s time but to build people, to create skills and awareness, it will take time, its a hard process, we are in a greater hurry than anybody else because we are affected by it on a daily basis, it is our life that is being threatened by these illegal elements but it will take time. The five thousand that we have now in the national army, they are doing very well.

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• Are you happy with the way the US and coalition countries are acting in this regard. Or should they do more….
I am happy with what they have done so far for Afghanistan. But if you ask me do I want more, of course I want more. In terms of support for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, in terms of support for state building in Afghanistan, nation building in Afghanistan. That is what we need very much.

• But there have been recent incidents of violence, particularly in the border provinces. Do you think the Taliban is actually regrouping?
I don’t think this is a serious concern, I am not worried about that, the Taliban have no place in the Afghan people. What is important for us in this region, especially for Afghanistan and Pakistan, to fight terrorism together, to fight it in earnest, to fight it in truth and to finish this menace. Extremism will not deliver anything to anybody. It’s like a snake, its like a scorpion, you can’t live with it. If it bites you tomorrow, it will bite me the day after or the day before so its something that this region has to do especially Afghanistan and Pakistan have to join hands in a strong manner to fight extremism and the emanating consequences of that which is terrorism to the full.

• Do you think under these present circumstances, your democratic reforms, elections all that would go ahead as scheduled.
We have to go full speed and meet the deadline set fast by the Bonn process, by the Loya Jirga, and by our own announcements and decrees. There is no way that we can stop now and say well, can we reach that point.

• But doesn’t it get frustrating at times?
Some things frustrate me, for example the slow progress on the national army, the slow progress on the police and some other things but then you look at Afghanistan, two years ago where are we now. Two years ago we had a currency that sold one dollar for Lord knows how many thousands of Afghanis and one Pakistan rupee for 800 or 1,000 Afghanis. Today we have 47 Afghanis to a dollar. One Afghani for Rs 1.20 Pakistani rupees we had last year to travel seven hours from Jalalabad to Kabul, now we travel three hours, we had last year to travel 24 hours from Kandahar to Kabul, now in recent day especially we travel 7-8 hours and by the end of the year it shall come down to 5 hours, we shall have paved roads. Same to Kandahar to Herat, same from Kabul to Salang, to Mazar-e-Sharif.

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• The US have been pumping in nearly a billion dollars a month in their war effort in Afghanistan but for this country’s reconstruction they have given only $1.8 billion so far…
The war effort on terrorism, that is for both of us, that’s for America, for us, that’s for you, it is for the whole of humanity. We have to free humanity from this menace of terrorism, that is the enemy of all. That money is being spent for the general security for the people of the world, it’s not only for Afghanistan, it’s not only for Pakistan, it’s not only for India, for America, it’s for everybody. So that money is spent rightly. But do we require more money for Afghanistan? Yes we do, and if somebody gives it to us, we will be happy, of course we will be very happy.

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