Afghan president Hamid Karzai has invited Russia to rebuild Soviet facilities in Afghanistan. "We want to give a new start to vital projects that were begun very long ago," Mr Karzai, on his second visit to Moscow in six months, said at a news conference with president Dmitry Medvedev, the Scotsman reported. The leaders issued a joint declaration in which Russia expressed its readiness to participate in "priority economic projects" in Afghanistan, some dating back to the Soviet era. The projects included the Salang Tunnel in the Hindu Kush mountains, hydroelectric power facilities in Kabul and Baglan provinces, a customs terminal and a university in Kabul. Neither the declaration nor the leaders mentioned the cost or potential terms. Russia is seeking to increase its influence in Afghanistan, where Soviet forces fought a nearly decade-long war in the 1980s. Later Mr Karzai, whose country awaits the eventual withdrawal of Nato forces after its own decade-long war against the Taliban, said: "Russia is a great power. For us, Russia is a teacher." Moscow has ruled out sending troops to Afghanistan, where some 15,000 Soviet soldiers died fighting the mujahideen.