UN Security Council looks forward to working with Karzai: president

The UN Security Council looks forward to working with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has been declared as the winner of the 2009 presidential elections, the council president said Tuesday.

Austria's UN Ambassador Thomas Mayr-Harting, the council's president for November, told reporters that the 15-member body has noted the decision by Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission to forego a run-off vote and to declare Karzai as elected president.

Council members "commended the work of those involved in the electoral process and paid homage to those who lost their lives," Mayr-Harting said.

"The members look forward to working with President Karzai and his administration," he said.

The Security Council will hear a briefing by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the latest developments in Afghanistan when he returns from his current trip, which includes a previously unannounced visit to Kabul, he added.

Source: Xinhua