Afghanistan, Kabul, 5 November / Trend corr. A.Hakimi / President says he hopes US counterpart will change war on terror strategy
PRESIDENT Karzai has welcomed Barak Obama's victory in the US presidential election.
Karzai at a press conference in Kabul on Wednesday said he hoped Obama's presidency would bring changes to US counter-terrorism policy in the region and a drop in the escalating violence in Afghanistan.
"I congratulate Senator Barack Obama on winning the presidential elections and we hope there will be a change in the strategy of war on terror," Karzai told reporters at the conference soon after the US election results were announced.
"The war on terror should be conducted in areas where the sanctuaries of terrorists and their training centres exist," he said.
Karzai said the Afghan government's first demand on the new American president would be to put an end to the mounting number of civilian casualties caused by US-led and NATO-led air-strikes.
Many Kabul residents also welcomed Obama's victory.
The Taliban in Pakistan said they hoped Obama would be able to "usher in a new era of peace" in the region.
"We want him (Obama) to change the policies of President Bush. He could end the years-long war by withdrawing US and allied troops from Afghanistan," Qari Mohammad Yusuf Ahmadi, spokesman for the Taliban, told the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic press.(pajwack)