Peacekeepers welcome in Afghanistan 'for as long as it takes'
Afghanistan’s new leader, Hamid Karzai, has said UN peacekeepers are welcome in his country “for as long as it takes” to restore law and order following 23 years of war.
“We need to have the instruments of controlling law and order in Afghanistan,” he said, adding that tribal leaders from southern Afghanistan have asked for “the continued presence of troops”.
Mr Karzai took over as interim leader on Saturday.
His approval of the UN peacekeeping force dispels fears that foreign soldiers would not be welcome in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, confusion continues over a convoy of vehicles attacked by US warplanes in the Tora Bora region of eastern Afghanistan on Friday.
The Pentagon has insisted the convoy was carrying senior Taliban and al-Qaida leaders.
But locals and survivors said it was carrying tribal elders to the inauguration ceremony of the new government in Kabul on Saturday.
A survivor speaking from his hospital bed in the Pakistani city of Peshawar said the bomb attack was unprovoked, despite American claims that people in the convoy fired surface-to-air missiles.
Sixty-five-year-old Haji Yaqub Khan, a tribal elder from the Khost province, said: “I will go to Kabul and meet with Karzai and ask him why this happened to us. What was our fault?”
