At the meeting, first the head of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan, esteemed Hamed Karzai, talked about the progress of work on the constitution and administrative reforms. He added that the issue of security is quite crucial for us, due to which many measures have been taken to form a national army and police force and this process is successfully continuing. Moreover, productive work has also been commenced in the economic and communication sectors and the construction of highways. The Kabul declaration has been signed between our neighbours for the improvement of good relations and neighbourliness and we want cooperation and good ties with our neighbours, he said.
Afterwards Prince Karim Aga Khan praised the activities of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan under the leadership of esteemed Hamed Karzai and he said the efforts made by the government during the last year were great achievements towards reconstructing Afghanistan. He added that the Aga Khan centre is currently engaged in cooperating with the people of Afghanistan in various fields. We are interested in assisting and working in various fields to rebuild Afghanistan, he said.
Also present at the meeting were the deputy head of state, Hedayat Amin Arsala, Foreign Minister Dr Abdollah, special adviser in national security affairs Zalmay Rasul and minister advisor for international relations Yahya Marufi.
Source: Radio Afghanistan, Kabul, in Pashto 1500 gmt 19 Apr 03
(c) BBC Monitoring