Agence France Presse

New Delhi, February 25:

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai said today his war-ravaged country wanted to join the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and become a link between the regional grouping and Central Asia.

“It would be an honour for Afghanistan to be invited to join SAARC. We would like to see it emerge as a great grouping for the development of Central and South Asia,” Karzai told a conference in New Delhi organised by India Today news magazine. The Afghan president said the two regions should link their development efforts to become a global power centre.

“There should be a new vision for the region and efforts made to remove political barriers and, instead of building walls, we must build bridges,” Karzai said. Karzai said his government was trying to build highways and pipelines so that the Central Asia’s rich energy reserves could flow to India and other countries.