By Xinhua
Kabul : Afghan presidential spokesman Hamayon Hamidzada Tuesday said the Afghan government has control over the vast majority of the country’s land, rejecting the remarks of U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell as “groundless.”
McConnell in his speech to U.S. Senate last week said that the Afghan government controls only 30 percent of Afghanistan, while Taliban insurgents control 10 percent and the remaining 60 percent is under control of former warlords and tribal leaders, according to media reports.
“Such remarks are not the fact and the government of Afghanistan rejects it,” Hamidzada said Tuesday in a weekly news briefing.
However, the Afghan presidential spokesman admitted that the government of Afghanistan is facing challenges and in parts of the country the administration’s control is weak.
Afghan intelligence chief Amurullah Salih also said Monday that the government has no control over eight districts mostly in the southern region.