Outgoing Afghan President Turns Down Luxury Villa

President Hamid Karzai has turned down a newly-built luxury villa that was meant to serve as his residence after the much awaited transfer of power in Afghanistan.



Karzai has ruled this war-torn country since late 2001 but the results of the presidential election, expected later this month, will find his replacement.



As his second and final term comes to an end, there has been much speculation about his future.



However, the matter of his future residence was clarified on Thursday.



The 56-year-old president declared that the lavish two-storey residence close to the Presidential Palace would be set aside for state guests.



"This house is way too luxurious for an ordinary Afghan lifestyle," Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun from southern Kandahar province, said as he praised the "magnificent structure."



By declining the villa, Karzai has reduced concerns that he would have wielded influence over his successor.



His spokesman Emal Faizi said Karzai would opt for a typical Afghan-style home in Kabul.



The president, who has two daughters and a son all under the age of 10, married at the age of 41, relatively late for an Afghan man.



Najibullah Zeyarmal, a senior Afghan journalist from Kandahar, told The Anadolu Agency that Karzai had made a smart move in not living close to the presidential palace.



"Had he chosen to live there, he would have always been stigmatized as a power-greedy man who never wanted to let go," Zeyarmal said.



However, he added that as someone who has left his mark on Afghan political history Karzai would always remain a center of power not matter where he lives.



A vote audit was completed last week and the next president, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai or Abdullah Abdullah, will be announced soon.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Kabil