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Monday, January 07, 2002 9:39 PM
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British PM Makes Short Visit to
Afghanistan |
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Xinhuanet 2002-01-08
05:28:27 |
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ISLAMABAD, January 8 (Xinhuanet) --
British Prime Minister Tony
Blair arrived from Islamabad at the Bagram
military airport 50
kilometers north of Kabul Monday night for a short
visit to
Afghanistan, according to reports from Kabul.
Blair, who flew in from Pakistan and was due to spend only a
few hours
on the ground, said in a statement that his coming is to
"make clear to
the new interim administration that our commitment
to Afghanistan is
for the long run."
The British prime minister said, "The
international community
is here to help for the long term, but
Afghanistan's future is in
the hands of the Afghan people and that is
exactly how it should
be."
He said, "It is in all our
interest that Afghanistan becomes a
stable country, part of the
international community once more."
Blair and Karzai
headed off for a meeting held in a hangar at
the airport. He is
expected to review the British peace keeping
force and then conclude
the visit.
Asked why he did not go to Kabul, a visit which
would have had
more symbolic value, his spokesman said: "The prime
minister is
anxious not to impose any undue burden on security forces
which
are there."
As to why the visit was taking
place in the middle of the
night, the spokesman said: "All aircraft
going to Bagram go in
during the night."
Enditem
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