Tajik President Rahmon: Afghan people should determine their fate
DUSHANBE. March 27 (Interfax) - Tajikistan shares the conviction that people are entitled to determine their fate without interference from outside, and Afghanistan is not an exception, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon said at a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
"We support the idea that the Afghans should determine their fate themselves," the Tajik presidential press service quoted Rahmon as saying.
The Tajik leader is in Kabul to take part in the 5th international festival of Novruz.
"Dushanbe believes the upcoming presidential elections in Afghanistan should reinforce the pillars of statehood and national unity and promote this country's prosperity and further development," he said.
The relationship between the two Persian-speaking nations is rooted in history, and the presidents have only to develop and strengthen these contacts, he said.
"Tajikistan stands for the peace process going ahead involving the Afghanis themselves and their leaders," Rahmon said.
The two presidents also discussed security in the region and at the Tajik-Afghan border. Tajikistan promised to help training personnel for the law enforcement system.
Afghanistan will hold presidential elections on April 5, in which Karzai will not run. Eleven candidates are running in the elections. If no winner is elected in the first round, the second round will be held in June 2014.
