KABUL, Oct 4: President Hamid Karzai has set conditions for a strategic pact with Pakistan, which he accuses of harbouring Taliban militants.

Addressing a news conference on Thursday, he also criticised the western media for gloomy predictions about Afghanistan’s future once US-led foreign forces withdraw from the country in 2014.

“We are happy to have strategic relations with Pakistan. We want this strategic pact with Pakistan. But we want some conditions and preconditions from Pakistan,” Mr Karzai said.

“First they should stop terrorists, suicide bombers crossing into Afghanistan,” the Afghan president said.

“If these conditions are met — terrorism is stopped, extremism is dismantled, anti-Afghan activities are stopped, destruction of Afghanistan is stopped, friendship starts between the two countries which hasn’t happened so far — then a strategic pact would be signed between Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

Turning to the gloomy predictions about his country in the western media, he said: “This is a psychological war by the western media against Afghanistan: once the foreign troops pull out, Afghanistan will be poor, there will be civil war and the Taliban will return, etcetera.”

He said he had raised the issue with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a visit to the United States for the UN General Assembly last week.

“I believe if the objective is to influence future agreements on the number of US military bases, the presence of US troops beyond 2014 — it can’t achieve this through psychological war,” he said.

The United States has said it does not seek permanent bases in Afghanistan, but is expected to keep a small force in the country after 2014 for counter-terrorism operations. Details have not yet been agreed upon.—AFP