There's no need for foreign manpower in Afghanistan: Karzai

Kabul, Jan 16 (IANS) Reacting to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's directive to send qualified and trained Pakistani manpower to Afghanistan, former President of the war-torn nation Hamid Karzai said that there was no need of that, the media reported.

On Friday while attending the third meeting of the Apex Committee on Afghanistan, Khan said the reason behind sending manpower to the country is to prevent a humanitarian crisis, TOLO News reported.

In a statement, his office said: "The Prime Minister directed the authorities concerned to explore bilateral cooperation with friendly countries as well to stave off humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan by exporting qualified and trained manpower especially in medical, IT, finance and accounting."

In response, Karzai said on Saturday that Afghanistan has hundreds of thousands of qualified boys and girls who have studied both at home and abroad, reports Khaama Press.

He added that that there was no need for a foreign workforce in Afghanistan.

The former President also called on the Taliban authorities in Kabul to provide working facilities to Afghan boys and girls who are university graduates and also facilitate the return of Afghan experts and specialists to the country.

Khan's remarks came after a recently published report by The New York Times which highlighted the lack of professional staff within the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan, reports TOLO News.

The report says that "many of the selected theologians are graduates of Darul Uloom Haqqania madrasa, one of Pakistan's oldest and largest Islamic seminaries".

According to the report, they lack professional training and skills required to perform jobs in the government.