'Terror in Afghan was deliberately promoted'

New Delhi, Nov 18: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai today accused the West and 'some neighbours' of ''deliberately'' promoting terrorism and religious extremism in his country and called upon the world to fight the scourge jointly to make the region an example of peace and prosperity.

''Terrorism and extremism could have been avoided...Yes, very much. It was promoted deliberately by the West and some neighbours and the consequences were horrendous...Now the world has woken up...,'' the Afghanistan President said in his address at the Fourth Annual Hindustan Times Leadership Summit' here.

Mr Karzai, however, did not directly name Pakistan for promoting terrorism in his country and instead, praised it for giving shelter to Afghan refugees, including himself, during the years of turmoil.

He defended Taliban whom he called ''simple and many of them clean'' and said they were ''used'' by more clever people and organisations beyond Afghanistan.

''I know them personally. They are simple people and many of them clean. Taliban emerged as a force when the country went through interference. They were used by more clever organisations beyond Afghanistan,'' he added.

To a question on whether he would have talks with Taliban, specially Mullah Omar, in the larger interest of peace, Mr Karzai said he was prepared to have talks with anybody in the interest of peace.

However, those who had committed and were committing crimes against Afghan people, should face the law. But those who had settled down to peaceful lives, were welcome.

With Mullah Omar, he asserted that he would not hold talks.

''For Mullah Omar, do you think it is possible ? Afghan Taliban, Yes. Non-Afghan Taliban, No,'' he said amid applause.

The Afghan President cleverly ducked a question on Pakistan's involvement in terrorism in Afghanistan saying ''I am very careful when I speak about Pakistan in India...'' He described Pakistan as Afghanistan's closest neighbour with which ''we have tremendous relations.'' ''Pakistan was our home against the Soviets...we are immensely grateful to Pakistan for what it has done...We are engaged with Pakistan closely in the fight against terrorism. I hope we can find an effective mechanism together with Pakistan,'' he said.

However, there was the policy and non-convergence of interests and that was the thing which went wrong. ''Taliban is a result of that.'' Mr Karzai refuted the assertion that ''Afghanistan is at war with itself'', saying it suffered because of the wars of someone else, ''who made Afghanistan a base for ideological purposes...The suffering in Afghanistan is because of that.'' ''The Soviets tried to impose communism on a deeply, deeply Muslim world. Afghan people struggled against that. Then extremism and fundamentalism was imposed on us. The consequences were immense suffering and extremism and terrorism which spread to New York and Washington and the world around us.'' Refuting that 9/11 suddenly woke up the world to terrorism, the Afghanistan President said the world, specilaly the West, was fully aware before 9/11 about what was going on in Afghanistan. But Afghanistan did not matter to them--the West.

Thanking India for the generous financial assistance for re-building the war-battered country, he said Afghanistan, with its rich resources, could be the best link for the region's economic progress.

''We must find a way to fight terrorism and religious extremism that is affecting us. I hope we will focus on it with greater energy at government and people-to-people level,'' Mr Karzai said in his address.

UNI