By IRNA,
Kabul : President Hamid Karzai strongly criticized the British and American conduct of the war, insisting that his government be given the lead in policy decisions.
President Hamid Karzai says the American-led coalition in Afghanistan needs to do more to respect Afghans’ independence.
Karzai said that he wanted American forces to stop arresting suspected Taliban and their sympathizers, and that the continued threat of arrest and past mistreatment were discouraging Taliban from coming forward to lay down their arms.
He criticized the American-led coalition as prosecuting the war on terrorism in Afghan villages, saying the real terrorist threat lay in sanctuaries of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan.
The president said that civilian casualties, which have dropped substantially since last year, needed to cease completely.
For nearly two years the American-led coalition has refused to recognize the need to create a trained police force, he said, leading to a critical lack of law and order.
He called instead for greater respect of Afghanistan’s fierce independence, and for more attention to be paid to building up the country, than doing things for it.
He admitted that “lots of things” in the last six years could have been handled better and singled out policies led by the United States, namely tackling terrorism and handling the Taliban, both as prisoners and on the battlefield.
On terrorism, he repeated a call he has made for several years, that sanctuaries across the border in Pakistan be closed off.
“There is no way but to close the sanctuaries,” he said.
“Pakistan will have no peace, Pakistan’s progress will suffer, so will Afghanistan’s peace and progress, so will the world’s. If you want to live, and live in peace, and work for prosperity, that has to happen. The sanctuaries must go, period.”
The deaths of civilians in the fighting have also been a big problem, he said.
“It seriously undermines our efforts to have an effective campaign against terrorism,” he said.
“I am not happy with civilian casualties coming down; I want an end to civilian casualties,” he said.
“As much as one may argue it’s difficult, I don’t accept that argument.” He added, “Because the war against terrorism is not in Afghan villages, the war against terrorism is elsewhere, and that’s where the war should go,” referring to the Taliban and Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan.