Hamid Karzai 'to stay in control of Afghanistan after 2014'

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan is exploring options to extend his time in power beyond 2014 when his second and final term is due to end, according to an intelligence report.
As a major international conference opened in Bonn aiming to set a course for the country's future, Germany's BND foreign intelligence service has claimed that Mr Karzai is working on a "new organisation of the Afghan central government".
"The reason is believed to be Karzai's wish not to step down, although he has indicated publicly he does not plan to extend his term in office," the daily newspaper Bild quoted the report as saying.
The Bild report said that the BND believed Karzai was seeking a "creative solution" to get around the two-term limit imposed by the Afghan constitution.
Mr Karzai told Monday's issue of the German news weekly Der Spiegel that he planned to live in Kabul after 2014 as "a pensioner and happy citizen".
Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Jawed Ludin, the deputy foreign minister, described the report as "nonsense".
"Mr Karzai is on the record about this, he is very clear. I know him well and I am convinced that he means what has said that he is looking forward to a credible transition through Afghan-led elections."
The Afghan president is chairing the Bonn conference, which he proposed, ten years after another meeting here established an interim government with Mr Karzai at the helm in the wake of the Taliban's removal.
He told around 1,000 delegates gathered in the western German city of Bonn for the one-day meeting that his government would battle corruption and work toward national reconciliation but needed firm international backing.
"We will need your steadfast support for at least another decade" after the troops pullout, he said.However, Pakistan and the Taliban – both seen as pivotal to any end to the bloody strife in Afghanistan a decade on – have bowed out of Bonn, dampening already modest hopes for real progress.
There are around 140,000 international troops in Afghanistan and all Nato-led combat forces are due to leave by the end of 2014, when Kabul will assume responsibility for the country's security.
The event's host, Guido Westerwelle, the German foreign minister, insisted there would be no rush to the exit.
"We send a clear message to the people of Afghanistan: we will not leave you alone, you will not be abandoned," he said.
"Afghanistan and its people need a clear and reliable commitment to a long-term engagement for the next decade beyond 2014."