U.S. hopes for 'new chapter of partnership' with Afghanistan
04:44 04/11/2009 MOSCOW, November 4 (RIA Novosti) - The United States welcomes the naming of Hamid Karzai as the president of Afghanistan and hopes it will help to open 'a new chapter for partnership' between the countries, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of State said.
"I think that we look forward to initiating a new chapter of our partnership with Afghanistan with the victory of President Karzai in the recent elections," Ian Kelly told a daily press briefing.
Karzai was declared the winner of Afghanistan's presidential elections on Monday when officials scrapped the second round of voting following the withdrawal of his opponent, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.
"I think that we're going to look for President Karzai to move boldly and forcefully to initiate internal reforms, and we stand ready to assist him in that regard, to help him improve governance in Afghanistan, to provide security for the Afghan people and provide the kind of services that the people of Afghanistan deserve," he added.
U.S. President Barack Obama recently pledged to boost troop numbers in Afghanistan. There are currently 68,000 Americans serving in the Central Asian state under a UN mandate to give security support to the Afghan government and stop the flow of drugs from the country.
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