US has no plan to experiment new political system in Afghanistan

Washington, Jan 8 : The US has no plan to change the political system in Afghanistan or divide the country, US ambassador Ryan Crocker said, three days after President Karzai said his country was not a lab for foreigners to experiment new political system once a while.

Ambassador Crocker called it only rumours and said such an effort by Washington would "dishonour the sacrifice of more than 1,800 American service members who have died in the cause of a unified Afghanistan, governed by its Constitution."

Earlier this month, four members of the US congress met with some key Afghan opposition leaders in Berlin and they came up with a statement calling for a decentralised political system in Afghanistan.

"This centralised power has led to massive corruption, disenfranchisement of a large segment of the Afghan people, obstacles to economic development, massive abuses of power, increasing political instability, poor governance, and a vast undermining of law and order," the members of US Congress had said after the 9 January meeting in the German capital.

Opposition leaders Ahmad Zia Massoud, Amrullah Saleh, Mohammad Mohaqeq and Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum had attended the meeting, organised by Aspen Institute.

They had also called for a national dialogue on a revised constitution in Afghanistan.

President Karzai, speaking in the Parliament, condemned such efforts, saying that Afghanistan was not a laboratory for foreigners for such experiments.

Speaking at the Government Media and Information Centre (GMIC), Crocker said "rumours that the United States has a plan to divide Afghanistan or change its form of government are, frankly speaking, lies".

"Simply put, the United States is committed to supporting the efforts of the central government, to build a strong, secure, democratic, and unified Afghanistan. We have no other aim or goal," Crocker said, addressing government spokesperson and some journalists.

Crocker also said his government supports an Afghan-to-Afghan peace talks with the Taliban, adding that it was an "absurd rumour" that the United States was seeking a secret deal with the Taliban.

"For a peace process to succeed, Afghans must talk to Afghans. The President also spoke of Afghan government contacts with representatives of Hezb-e-Islami. This is another example of an Afghan-led process that we are pleased to support," Crocker said.

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