Kabul, May 2 (IANS) Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai said Monday that following Osama bin Laden’s killing in neighbouring Pakistan, the world should now realise that his country was ‘not the place of terrorism’. While hailing the killing, he urged NATO-led troops to chase terrorists out of Afghanistan.
Bin Laden, who was viewed as terror kingpin whose activities had prompted Washington and allied nations to deploy over 140,000 troops in Afghanistan, was killed in Pakistan’s Abbottabad city Sunday night.
‘I hope with his (Osama) elimination the terrorist activities will be over,’ Xinhua quoted Karzai as saying during a conference of elders held at his palace in Kabul.
‘The death of Osama in Pakistan has proved the accuracy of our claim that terrorists centres are outside Afghanistan and not in Afghan villages,’ he said.
‘Once again I am calling on NATO that war against terrorists should not be continued in Afghan villages. Osama was spotted and killed in Abbottabad of Pakistan and not in Afghan villages or towns,’ said Karzai.
President Karzai also hoped that Osama bin Laden’s death would lead to restriction of terrorist activities and eventually to the return of lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the region and the world at large.
‘If the international troops are the true allies of Afghans, now they should come up to say that killing of the Afghans, women, children and elders was not a good idea in the last many years as it was happening on a daily basis,’ CNN quoted Karzai as telling RTA TV.
Opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah said bin Laden’s killing proved that Pakistan was a ‘haven’ for terror groups.
‘Killing of Osama bin Laden is pleasant news for Afghans, and now it’s proven that Al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations are not based in Afghanistan and Pakistan is a haven for them,’ he said.
