KABUL - Afghanistan on Sunday scoffed at calls for the country's division, denouncing the idea as an illogical nostrum and branding its proponents as people of imperfect wisdom
Worked out by Tory MP and Foreign Office aide Tobias Ellwood, the so-called plan suggests Afghanistan's split-up into eight kingdoms, some of them ruled by the Taliban.
The controversial Plan C, which is reportedly under discussion in London and Washington, the blueprint sets out reforms that would relegate President Hamid Karzai to a figurehead role.
Ellwood's proposal warns Afghanistan will face a bleak future after the withdrawal of foreign forces, set for 2014when it is left to fend for itself. A regionalized state would tackle the weak government, tribal disputes and corruption, he proposes.
The scheme has been presented to British Foreign Secretary William Hague and discussed with White House officials, according to the Independent newspaper, which reported on September 9 that Ellwood had shared the plan with Pakistani officials in London.
Commenting on the contentions idea, a foreign ministry spokesman told a news briefing in Kabul that, over the centuries, the Afghans had laid down their lives to defend their sovereignty, independence and the territorial integrity of their country.
Janan Musazai said the government in Kabul had made historical achievements for its people in the past decade and forge national unity. "Regrettably, the world isn't yet free of fools and the issue, whoever has raised it, is fallacious and specious."
He welcomed the Obama administration's decision to blacklist the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, blamed for a string of deadly attacks on high-security installations in Kabul and other parts of the country.
The step should have been taken several years back, believed Musazai, who hoped the action would help check the group's operations in Afghanistan. He expected even harsher measures to dismantle the network.
About the transfer of the Bagram prison, the spokesman said the government was fully prepared to take control of the detention facility. Under a memorandum of understanding signed with the US military in March, the jail affairs were to be handed over Afghans in six months, he recalled.
A day earlier, President Hamid Karzai renewed his call for the transfer of the detention center to his government within the agreed time, warning that any delay could undermine national sovereignty.
Karzai, who met US Ambassador James B. Cunningham and ISAF Commander Gen. Johan Allen at his office, said security responsibility for the prison be handed over to Afghan forces by Monday. (Pajhwok)
ر