PRESIDENTIAL AND PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN AFGHANISTAN WILL STRENGTHEN AFGHAN STATEHOOD

MOSCOW, March 25, 2004 (RIA Novosti correspondent Pyotr Goncharov) - In an interview with RIA Novosti, Alexander Yakovenko, the official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections in Afghanistan are an essential condition for the successful completion of the Bonn process and the postwar formation of power in Afghanistan.

"We believe that this will strengthen the basis of Afghan statehood and will lay a firm democratic foundation for a future civil society," Mr. Yakovenko said.

According to him, Moscow proceeds from the point of view that "Afghanistan needs a strong authority over all of its regions," as today there is instability and economic dislocation.

"After Afghanistan adopted a new constitution at the Loya Jirga in January this year, we noted with satisfaction, the further strengthening of the positions of the new authority, the growth in its authority and the extension of the Kabul administration's influence on the provinces," he said.

Read the full interview with Mr. Yakovenko at RIA Novosti's Web site: http://www.rian.ru. Mr. Yakovenko spoke about Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's participation in an international conference on Afghanistan in Berlin on March 31-April 1.