KABUL - President Hamid Karzai on Thursday said the signing of strategic cooperation agreements with other countries would not affect the good relations between Afghanistan and Russia.
During a meeting between Karzai and Russia's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Zamir Kabulov, current regional security situation and economic ties between both nations dominated their discussion, said a statement from Karzai's office.

"The strategic agreements recently signed between Afghanistan and other countries did not mean that we have no good relations with Russia," said the statement quoting Karzai.
Afghan government recently signed pacts with several countries – the United States of America, Germany, Britain, Italy, Australia, France and India.
A similar pact with China is in the pipeline.

Karzai insisted that his government was keen to strengthening economical relations with Russia and there were projects in Afghanistan that needed Russian expertise, added the statement.

Citing the bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Russia as important, the envoy said, his country was ready to cooperate in the fields of constructing residential places, in power supply and sending Russian experts to the country if needed.

The two parties also discussed the forthcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) conference to be held in China, the statement said. (Pajhwok)