KABUL - President Hamid Karzai said Thursday that any kind of election is better than an illegal government, confirming that the 2014 presidential election will go ahead as scheduled regardless of the country's situation.
Speaking in a press conference in Kabul, Karzai emphasized that his government will not be legal after his term is over and said that none of the threats, including insecurity and "foreign propaganda", will prevent the election from being held on time.

"Any election, even if it's incomplete, is better than an illegal government, because in 2014 when my term expires, I will not be a legal president of Afghanistan for even a day," he said.
He slammed the role of foreign figures in the 2009 presidential election saying that they will not be permitted to interfere in the next one.

"As I told the foreign officials very clearly, they should not interfere in our upcoming election as in the previous presidential or parliamentarian elections. It has been proven that they cannot impose their aims on the Afghan people. So, we want a free election without the intervention of both foreigners and the Afghan government," he said. On the signing of an Afghanistan-Pakistan strategic pact which has raised the ire of Afghan senators and lawmakers, Karzai said it will only happen when Pakistan accepts all Afghanistan's conditions including the end of the cross-border shelling in eastern Afghan provinces.

"If these conditions are met – terrorism is stopped, extremism is dismantled, anti-Afghan activities are stopped, the destruction of Afghanistan is stopped – then a friendship will start between the two countries which hasn't happened so far. Then the strategic pact will be signed between Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan media watchdog Nai chief Sediqullah Tawhidi responded to Karzai's comments which follows the Council of Minister's call this week for an investigation into those media which go against the "national interests".

Tawhidi said the government should work on improving security and providing good governance instead of focusing on the media's performance.
"Instead of threatening the media, the government should show its commitment towards ensuring the security of people, and launch a transparent election which would stop the rising concerns of the Afghan people," he said. (Tolo News)