KABUL - President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on Sunday said war has been imposed on Afghanistan and Afghans would never give in to it.
Speaking to journalists here in Kabul, the president said terrorist networks that have targeted the neighboring countries planned to use Afghan soil in order to bring chaos to the region and the Islamic world.
“We are indeed representing the entire international community in this war that we are fighting. The worst acts are committed by those today who do not belong to us… We need to defy these dangers together and unite as a nation,” he remarked.
Ghani said over the past 10 days, the Afghan national defence and security forces have defended their motherland with their blood. He said there were elements that had differences with the democratic system and these differences have turned into conflict.
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.
He expressed optimism for peace process to go ahead as it wasn’t only for the benefit of Afghanistan but also for the benefit of all neighboring countries.
Ghani added his country was thriving to become a trade corridor in the region and no country could turn Afghanistan into a proxy war field.
He pointed out many elements had come together to impose the war on Afghanistan and criminal economy was one of them. “International smugglers benefit from the heroin that is produced in Afghanistan.”
Referring to a newly-released survey, Ghani said, five per cent of youth in urban centres and 12 per cent in rural areas were addicted to drugs. Ghani called this a major challenge, saying an addicted youth could turn into a soldier of instability for a country. (Pajhwok)