BBG PRESS RELEASE
RFE/RL’s Exclusive Interview With Afghan President Hamid Karzai
NOVEMBER 26, 2013
Akbar Ayazi, Unit Director of Radio Free Afghanistan and Radio Mashaal, interviewed Afghan President Hamid Karzai today for the president’s first public comments since surprising local leaders and international diplomats by rejecting a long-term security pact framing the terms of U.S. presence in Afghanistan after combat troops withdraw in 2014. Karzai says he has two demands before he’ll sign a security agreement with the U.S. and that he’ll approve the document as soon as those demands are met.
“Based on many reasons, and I can prove this, the ongoing war in Afghanistan is being imposed on us and Afghans are being sacrificed in it for someone else’s interests. We are not blocking the interests of the United States or other major powers. But we are demanding that if you consider Afghanistan the place from which to advance your interests, then you should also pay attention to Afghanistan’s interests. We are not demanding anything else,” said Karzai in an exclusive interview with RFE/RL on November 26.