KANPUR: Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai on Thursday called India the greatest ally of Afghanistan and squarely blamed Pakistan for “creepily invading” his country for “spreading radicalism and damaging it”.

“While we got liberation from Soviet Union in 1989-90, creeping invasion from our neighbour Pakistan took place. They damaged our society, education and culture. We were destroyed completely. It was only when the 9/11 took place in the US that the world, especially the western countries, understood what we were facing for years. A change came overnight and India helped us to overcome these odds,” he said while addressing students at the open air theatre at IIT-Kanpur.

He was the guest of honour at Techkriti, the technology fiesta of the institute.

“Afghanistan was liberated and was introduced to democratic model of governance by India. People from all walks of life came back to the country -- be it Afghans, Hindus or Sikhs. India gave us $2.5 billion in assistance. India has given us a lot and we have come very close in the past 14 years. The bond has strengthened with time. India is our greatest ally,” said the former Afghan president.

He also mentioned that India has given thousands of scholarships to Afghan students and in the past 14 years, more than 60,000 Afghan students have graduated from India and joined services in various walks of life.

He said that India has given Afghanistan a Parliament building, dams and transmission lines for electricity. He praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said he is a great orator and has a strong personality.

The charisma of former Karzai, who was dressed immaculately in Afghan traditional attire, was evident the moment he entered the open air theatre on Thursday evening to hold an interactive session with the students.

The thundering applause he got from the students could perhaps only be matched by Narendra Modi. While entering and exiting the venue, he got a standing ovation from the students and teachers alike. Enthused by the response, Karzai freely mingled with the students who jostled for a handshake with him. The situation was such that even when the securitymen rushed to cordon him off, Karzai lunged forward to meet the students. The entire crowd was left mesmerised and glued to the seats when the ex-president of Afghanistan spoke.

Karzai mentioned two popular Bollywood numbers -- “Dil dhundta hai phir wahi fursut ke raat din” and “Zindagi ke safar main guzar jate hai jo mukaam” -- and asked the students to “live the student life to the fullest as it is so sweet, cherishable and wont’last long.” To this, the students cheered and gave a thundering response.

Karzai said, “Use technology for making smoke-free cities, make available clean water and ensure green environment. Make this world a better place to live in. That’s the task for you. Our task is to encourage you.”

Replying to a student, Anushka Jha, who asked how to identify radicals and to end extremism, Karzai said: “The solution is to fight out radicalism, just like the people in Afghanistan did. They did not accept what was imposed upon them by invaders.” He said that radicalisation is a political tool used by Pakistan and the US in their own interest, but now they are bearing the disastrous consequences of it.

Replying to second question raised by a student, Shivam, on the role of women in nation-building, he said: “We had asked each of our province to vote for two women and send them to Parliament. The plea helped and today we have 27% women parliamentarians. While women dominate the media field, they are successful managers in banks, businesswomen, teachers, governors, diplomats, ambassadors and lot more.”



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