KABUL - President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday said regional countries needed to join hands against terrorism because the menace could not be eliminated unilaterally.

The president said this while accepting the letter of credence from the new Turkish ambassador to Kabul, Büyükelçi Ali Sait Akin, during a formal ceremony at the Presidential Palace, a statement from the palace said.

It said Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani was also present on the occasion. The statement quoted the new Turkish envoy as saying that a stable and peaceful Afghanistan was in the interest of Turkey.

He supported President Ghani’s programmes and efforts for peace and strengthening security in the war-torn country. The ambassador promised to facilitate the Afghans in getting visas for Turkey.

He also said he would encourage private Turkish airlines to increase their flights to Afghanistan’s western Herat and southern Kandahar provinces. He also assured of his country’s cooperation with Afghanistan in establishing the Maulana Jalaluddin Mohammad Balkhi University.

The statement said President Ghani called the relations between Afghanistan and Turkey as historic and thanked the Turkish government for paving the ground for Afghan students to pursue higher education in Turkey.

Referring to recent incidents in Turkey, President Ghani said the self-styled Islamic State group was a common threat to the region and needed joint campaign to eradicate it.

He praised Turkey’s role in strengthening regional cooperation for peace and stability as crucial and said the threat of terrorism could not be overcome unilaterally and all countries in the region had to take part in the fight against the menace. (Pajhwok)