Karzai addresses the general debate of the 61st session of the General Assembly of the UN on September 20 (epa)
September 20, 2006 -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai today told the UN General Assembly that Afghanistan has become the "worst victim" of terrorism.
Karzai said terrorism is "rebounding" in his country, with militants infiltrating the borders to wage attacks on civilians.
He called for assistance from the international community to destroy terrorist sanctuaries inside and outside Afghanistan.
"We must look beyond Afghanistan to the sources of terrorism," he said. "We must destroy terrorist sanctuaries beyond Afghanistan, dismantle the elaborate networks in the region that recruit, indoctrinate, train, finance, arm, and deploy terrorists."
Karzai said terrorist activities are also robbing thousands of Afghan children of their right to education, and prevent health workers from doing their jobs in Afghanistan.
He also pledged to eradicate opium-poppy cultivation in his country, which he said helps fuel the ongoing insurgency.
(Reuters, dpa)
He said that terrorism "does not emanate from within Afghanistan.... Military action in Afghanistan alone, therefore, will not deliver our shared goal of eliminating terrorism."
He called for assistance from the international community to destroy terrorist sanctuaries inside and outside Afghanistan.
"We must look beyond Afghanistan to the sources of terrorism," he said. "We must destroy terrorist sanctuaries beyond Afghanistan, dismantle the elaborate networks in the region that recruit, indoctrinate, train, finance, arm, and deploy terrorists."
Karzai said terrorist activities are also robbing thousands of Afghan children of their right to education, and prevent health workers from doing their jobs in Afghanistan.
He also pledged to eradicate opium-poppy cultivation in his country, which he said helps fuel the ongoing insurgency.
(Reuters, dpa)
Opium In Afghanistan
Opium In Afghanistan
OPIUM FARMING ON THE RISE Despite a nationwide program by the Afghan government to eradicate opium-poppy fields and offer farmers alternative crops, international experts say that the 2006 opium crop will be as much as 40 percent larger than the previous year's. Afghanistan is the largest producer of opium in the world, and the source of as much as 90 percent of Europe's heroin.(more)
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