MOSCOW, November 2 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow welcomes the naming of Hamid Karzai as the president of Afghanistan, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
Karzai was declared the winner of Afghanistan's presidential elections on Monday when officials scrapped the second round of voting following the withdrawal of his opponent, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.
Abdullah had wanted the removal of key election officials before taking part in the November 7 run-off, which Karzai had agreed to after international pressure following his fraud-tainted victory in the first round.
"Russia is satisfied with the completion of the election process in Afghanistan," the ministry said in a statement, adding that "the new national government has much work to do in resolving key issues of stabilizing the situation in the country."
The statement also said that Moscow intends to provide assistance to the Central Asian state "by developing cooperation in the political, economic and humanitarian sectors."
Russia also pledged to help Afghanistan fight terrorism and drug-trafficking.
