Former President Hamid Karzai on Monday warned that the situation of the country is deteriorating.

Speaking at a press conference in Kabul, Karzai urged his successor, the incumbent President Ashraf Ghani, to take action to prevent this crisis before worsening.

Karzai warned that many young Afghans are leaving the country, because they don’t see any hope for their future in the war-torn country.

I’m calling on Dr. Ashraf Ghani and the government to rethink and assess the situation of the country. It is moving heavily toward deterioration, Karzai said.

In addition, he emphasized that the Freedom of Speech is under threat. According to Karzai, specific individuals have been threatened, wounded or even killed for expressing their views. He listed latest attacks, including assassination of Waheed Muzhda, a writer and pro-Taliban analyst.

But Karzai said he is not pointing blame now: I am just calling on the government to protect this fundamental right ...and on the security forces to be the defenders of people’s rights and not of individuals and political groups.

The former Afghan President, a key figure who was invited to the likely China meeting, said that he has removed his name from the list of participants after President Ghani’s opposition. However, he said that Ghani had called also for the removal of other figures and that he rejected it.