Afghan president says his country needs international help to overcome security problems

ISTANBUL (A.A) - November 2, 2011 - Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday appealed for international help to defeat his country's security problems and achieve economic development. "We need solidarity and cooperation to remove issues that threaten our security and peace and to achieve economic development, which is vital for the future of our country," Karzai told the opening ceremony of the opening ceremony of the Istanbul Conference on Afghanistan.  The one-day conference in Istanbul brings together leaders and diplomats in a bid to boost security and economic development in Afghanistan. Karzai said the biggest issue fueling security concerns in the region was terrorism, adding, "without fighting it to its core reasons one cannot maintain peace in Afghanistan." Karzai said the assassination of former Afghan president Burhannedin Rabbani undermined the Afghan government talks with Taliban, causing the peace process to stall. "We have tried to distance Taliban and other factions from violence and cut their ties with Al-Qaeda, by including them into the peace process. But latest incident showed that the process proved unsuccessful. And under all these circumstances we have now before us Pakistan-based Taliban leaders. We hope that we can expand the peace process to the entire region by winning support from outside," Karzai said.        "Our biggest goal is which share with our international partners is to create a sovereign Afghan state that could stand on its own feet and build peace for each Afghan citizen," he said.    International forces are getting prepared to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.