President Hamid Karzai said Friday that the security of Afghanistan would be the responsibility of its own people after Western troops have withdrawn, at a meeting in Islamabad with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. The Afghan leader was responding at a joint press conference to a question about the country's security after NATO troops start their withdrawal later this year, according to a report of the German Press Agency "DPA". "The protection of the Afghan land and the protection of the Afghan people is the responsibility of the Afghan people, it is not a responsibility of the foreigners," Karzai said. "The US came to Afghanistan in the name of the war on terror and now we all must work together - US, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the rest of us - to remove terrorism or any vestiges of it," he added. President Zardari said Pakistan was fighting "its own war" against enemy militants and will continue until they are defeated. He also termed Afghanistan a "great country" which will overcome all difficulties. Karzai arrived in Pakistan Friday to discuss cross-border attacks by militants and options to increase military cooperation and share intelligence in the fight against extremists. The leaders discussed ways to bolster their ties and build mutual trust. "It was also agreed to further promote cooperation in connectivity, infrastructure and energy fields to further boost the economic development of the two countries," said Zardari's spokesman Farhatullah Babar. "President Karzai's visit will contribute to further enhancing friendship and close cooperative ties between the two brotherly peoples and countries," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. The Afghan president, who is accompanied by the foreign minister, the army chief and other senior officials, is to meet Saturday with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani as well as top military officials.
