May 4, 2002	Saturday	Safar 20, 1423

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NEW DELHI, May 3: Hamid Karzai, Chairman of Afghanistan’s interim government has said that he completely trusts President Pervez Musharraf, presumably politically, The Indian Express reported on Friday.

However, Karzai insists that New Delhi’s help was crucial in Afghanistan’s future economic stake in the central Asian hydrocarbon reserves.

Quoting from an exclusive interview with the American-installed leader recently, the newspaper said that President Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan is keen to hold a meeting in Ashkabad “where Pakistan’s Gen Musharraf, Karzai and their respective petroleum experts would meet.”

The meeting was scheduled for the first week of May but Gen Musharraf’s referendum pre-occupations have caused the crucial meeting to be rearranged in the last week of May.

“Once a gas pipeline comes through from Turkmenistan, Afghanistan to Pakistan, India’s cooperation would be important,” Karzai told the newspaper in an interview in Kabul. He said he has already briefed New Delhi on the pipeline proposal.

The promotion of this proposal would almost automatically accelerate coordination between New Delhi and Tehran, the newspaper said.

An important Iranian visit to New Delhi is on the cards. Chinese President Jiang Zemin’s recent visit to Tehran and US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s low-key visit to Herat, adjoining Iran, last week are all stirring up the diplomatic cauldron which must, somehow, also impact on the coming Loya Jirga, the newspaper said.

It said India has, meanwhile, agreed to sell three used Airbuses to Kabul for a mere seven million dollars. This is somewhat ironical because by shunning Pakistani air space Indian diplomacy has effectively blocked Indian access to Kabul and accelerated Kabul-Peshawar traffic.

When asked what he thought of Gen Musharraf, Karzai’s response was emphatic: “I trust him entirely”.

Asked about the law and order outside Kabul, particularly around areas close to the Pakistan border, he said, “Why don’t you travel to Gardez, Paktia and see for yourself?”