Kabul: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has sought a distance himself from the remarks made in an interview in which he said Afghanistan would back Pakistan against the United States (US) if it was attacked.
The presidential palace Monday said Karzaiās comments, made in an interview with a private Pakistani television Geo News over the weekend, were āmisinterpretedā. The interview was conducted by senior Pakistani journalist Salim Safi.
Karzai has said that his country would support Pakistan if it was attacked by either the US or India.
āGod forbid, if any time war erupts between Pakistan and America, Afghanistan will side with Pakistan,ā Karzai reportedly said in an interview aired late Saturday.
The prospect of all-out conflict between the US and Pakistan remains far-flung, despite strained relations in recent months, following the killing of Osama bin Laden by US commandos in a unilateral raid in Abottabad.
Nevertheless the comments raised eyebrows among Western officials in Kabul allied to the 10-year campaign to keep the Taliban from returning to power.
Christopher Chambers, a NATO spokesman, told reporters in Kabul that āwe all need to focus on much wider dialogue thatās required for peace and which the people of both countries mostly certainly want and certainly deserve.ā
The palace insisted the remarks were broadcast out of context.
āPakistani media has misinterpreted it,ā said the presidentās deputy spokesman Seyamak Herawi.
āThey only showed the first part when the president says Afghanistan will back Pakistan if there is a war.ā
Instead, the reference was to Afghanistanās willingness to house refugees from Pakistan in case of any conflict, in the way that millions of Afghans are given refuge across the border in Pakistanās northwestern frontier region.
āBut in connection with the war on terrorism if there is a war on Pakistan, Afghanistan will not support that,ā he further stated.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been long-tested, with Karzai recently accusing his neighbour of playing a ādouble-gameā with Afghan insurgents fighting the US-led war effort who hold bases across the border.
In the Geo interview, Karzai also sought to assuage Pakistani fears over US influence in the region following the drawdown of Western combat forces by the end of 2014 and restated his conditions for a long term US partnership.
Afghanistanās conditions for a US deal include that American troops must not enter Afghan homes, implying that they should end controversial night raids in pursuit of Taliban targets that have caused many civilian casualties.
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