International community should not try to remove IEA, says Karzai

The international community should not seek the forced removal from power of Afghanistan’s interim Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) government but rather encourage inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue to bring about improvements to their policies, former president Hamid Karzai said.

But Karzai, who served as the country’s first democratically-elected leader from 2002 to 2014, told Kyodo News in a rare interview with foreign media that the IEA must resume girls’ education immediately, saying it could be a step toward it becoming the “legitimate” and “recognized” government.

The IEA has not been recognized internationally by any country, due to certain policies including the ban on girls and women’s education.

Karzai stressed, however, that forced removal of the IEA from power is not the way forward.

“We don’t want conflict in this country anymore. Conflict will make things even worse than they are today,” Karzai said in the interview, conducted at his residence in central Kabul.

“We don’t want a collapse of the regime or split of the regime. We have had enough of that in Afghanistan. We want improvements in policy. We want all Afghans getting together to build the future.”

While insisting that women and girls be allowed to return to school “immediately,” the former leader wants intra-Afghan talks involving all ethnic groups to commence “as soon as possible.” He stopped short of elaborating on a specific timeline for the negotiations.

Karzai said that even though the IEA understands the necessity of talks, it will take time and preparation before the process can begin.