President Gen. Pervez Musharraf left on a brief visit to neighboring Afghanistan on Saturday to congratulate Hamid Karzai on his victory in the country's landmark presidential elections, an official said. Karzai, the U.S.-backed interim leader, secured a five-year term as the country's first directly elected head of state in the historic Oct. 9 vote. Musharraf, accompanied by several government ministers, departed here by plane Saturday on a daylong visit to the Afghan capital, Kabul, to congratulate Karzai, a senior government official said on condition of anonymity. On Friday, Musharraf sent a message to Karzai welcoming his election win, and was upbeat about relations between the two countries. "I am confident that the brotherly relations that exist between Pakistan and Afghanistan will continue to grow from strength to strength," Musharraf was quoted as saying by state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency. He said the Afghan people had displayed "political sense and maturity" by voting in Karzai.
