Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai on Saturday called on Afghans to adopt a policy of self- sufficiency and stand on their feet.

"This is our obligation to follow the way of our martyrs, defend our freedom, rebuild country and stand on our feet," he told thousands of audience gathered to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Afghanistan's national hero, the late resistance leader Ahmad Shah Masoud.

Masoud and millions of Afghans, Karzai added, had sacrificed their lives for the independence of Afghanistan and so, it is for the people of this war-ravaged country to reconstruct and safeguard it.

"I pray for the success of Afghanistan and call on all Afghans to get united and take the country towards progress and prosperity, " Karzai noted.

Other Afghan officials, including advisor to President Mohammad Qasim Fahim and former President Burhanudin Rabbani, paid tribute to late Masoud in their speeches.

Masoud, the former guerrilla leader who fought against ex- Soviet Union in 1980s and then resisted Taliban's onslaught in 1990s, was killed in Sept. 9, 2001.

Two Arabs, according to Masoud's comrades, disguising themselves as journalists, detonated their mine-laden camera, killing Masoud during an interview in the northeast Afghanistan's Takhar province.

Source: Xinhua