Minister accuses West of "double-standards" in Afghanistan

Nov 10, 2009, 15:40 GMT

Kabul - Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta hit back Tuesday at Western powers for putting pressure on President Hamid Karzai to exclude warlords from his new government.

'There is a double-standard in their politics,' Spanta told a joint press conference with visiting Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt in Kabul.

'To say that our warlords are good and the warlords of Hamid Karzai are bad is dangerous politics,' the foreign minister said, without naming names.

In his bid for re-election in August, Karzai named Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, a powerful Tajik warlord, as his vice presidential running mate, a move which dismayed many in the international community.

Karzai also welcomed the backing of General Abdul Rashid Dostum, another powerful warlord. Both Fahim and Dostum have been accused of rights abuses by human rights group.

In late 2001, the US military backed the forces of both Fahim and Dostum, who were members of the erstwhile Northern Alliance out to topple the Taliban regime in Kabul.

But the US and other Western countries as well as the UN expressed their dismay in June this year over the role the two powerful men could play in Karzai's future government.

Spanta said 'unproductive interference' by the US and Europe in the make-up of Karzai's new cabinet would hurt the feelings of the Afghan people.

He said Karzai had promised that he would not allow any corrupt officials in his future government, adding: 'It is better to leave the Afghans do their job.'

Speaking at the same press conference, Bildt said 'Afghanistan needs few warlords and more peace builders. To build peace means to build a state that is accountable to the people, that is not corrupt, and that is representative.'

'Now this is not easy, but clearly we are here to support the peace building and the state building not the warlords,' said Bildt, whose country currently holds the presidency of the European Union.

Bildt arrived in Kabul on Tuesday for an unannounced two-day visit, where he met Karzai and other Afghan and NATO officials.

'We are of course in a new situation after the problematic phase that has been here since the election,' Bildt said. 'We want to engage in that new start for both Afghanistan and for the cooperation between Afghanistan and the international community.'

He also joined the chorus by Western leaders, calling on Afghan's leaders to tackled widespread graft in the government.

'Corruption is a cancer in society, it is a difficult cancer to deal with, but it is a cancer that needs to be dealt with and we are here to help Afghanistan in that particular important struggle,' he added.