KABUL - General Hilmi Akýn Zorlu, the Commander of International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan held a news conference on Saturday regarding the the explosions in Kabul and the assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Speaking in the conference, Gen. Zorlu expressed condolences for those who lost their relatives in the explosions and expressed good wishes for those who were injured.
Zorlu said that he proposed to start an aid campaign to help the families of those who died and were injured in the explosions, adding that terrorists widely use bomb attacks as a method.
''We were always aware of such an attack risk, the only method of totally preventing such a risk is to implement the security measures tightly,'' he said. Zorlu said that taking tight security measures means to have soldiers, check points on every street and to search all vehicles, adding ''yet this causes peace-loving Kabul people to return back to war conditions again. We won't let terrorists to have that success. Yet we have increased our security measures significantly.''
Noting that ISAF has close relations with the Afghan security forces, Zorlu recalled that Afghan security forces seized another vehicle full of bombs brought to Kabul due to the information which their command gave. They can revise the aid issue that can be given by ISAF if wanted following the explosions that took place last Thursday.
Zorlu said that ISAF contributed to the peace and stability of Kabul, adding that yet the future of this country and peace depends on the success of the interim government headed by Karzai.
Gen. Zorlu also referred to the statement of Gulbettin Hikmetyar, the leader of the Hizb-i Islam group who denied any connection with Taliban and Al-Qaeda, adding ''I didn't accuse him, I told Chinese news agency and Abu Dabi tv channel that I didn't believe that Hikmetyar worked with Taliban and Al Qaeda, because Hikmetyar was a person who earlier served Afghan nation as a prime minister.''
''ISAF is a neutral peace keeping force and it is at equal distance to all Afghan people,'' he said.
Regarding the assassination attempt on Karzai, Zorlu said that ''I would like to express my pleasure over Karzai's not being harmed during the assassination attempt.''