Karzai: Kabul conference has unique opportunity

Afghan president Hamid Karzai addresses leaders at the Kabul conference as he calls for his government to be handed more responsibility for spending aid money:

"We face a vicious common enemy that violate every Islamic and international norm to break our unity of effort.

"They would like nothing better than to create uncertainty, to force our publics to doubt our staying power and our determination.

"Today I invite us to elevate our vision above the din of the battle with our common enemies and to focus on our noble goal: a peaceful prosperous and stable Afghanistan.

"We have a unique opportunity to make the Afghan state effective by using our national consensus, our assets, our national wealth and our international partnerships to lift our people from poverty to prosperity and from insecurity to stability.

"The Afghanistan of the future will be the nexis of regional economic cooperation and will fully participate in the international community based on the rights and obligations of a 21st century state."