We will die but won’t accept defeat: Ghani

WASHINGTON (Pajhwok): President Ashraf Ghani on Monday assured the United States that the Afghanistan would never be a burden and its people would die but would never be defeated.

“We will die, but we will never be defeated,” Ghani said in his remarks to the American troops at the Pentagon. “Terrorism is a threat, it’s an evil, but the people of Afghanistan are willing to speak truth to terror by saying, no, you will never overwhelm us, you will never subdue us…”

Not going to be a burden on its allies, Afghanistan would not ask the United States what it could do for it. Afghanistan would do whatever it could for itself and for the world by putting its house in order, he remarked.

“We’re a front-line state. We die on a daily basis,” said the president, expressing his sentiments which he echoed at Camp David, the picturesque presidential retreat, before heading for day-long discussions with the US delegation led by Secretary of State John Kerry.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and other senior administration are attending the Camp David meeting. Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah and his cabinet colleagues are accompanying Ghani.

“Partnership with the United States is foundational to the government of national unity. It is time for Afghanistan to reciprocate its gifts to the United States …. Reciprocating the gifts means, owning the problems, solving them and asking of ourselves what we must do for ourselves and for the region,” Ghani told reporters after his arrival at Camp David.

Kerry said President, Barack Obama and the entire administration was “very very pleased” to welcome the Afghan delegation. On the eve of the Camp David talks, Kerry hosted Ghani and Abdullah for a private dinner at his residence.

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