KABUL: Afghanistan’s presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi on Tuesday described the NATO-led war against terror in the insurgency-hit country as “aimless and unwise”.
His remarks came after NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen during his monthly briefing in Brussels rejected the Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s recent allegations of US collusion with the Taliban.
On March 10, Karzai accused the United States of conspiring with the Taliban to keep foreign troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014, when NATO is going to end its combat mission.
“The people of Afghanistan ask NATO to define the purpose and aim of the so-called war on terror…. (They) consider this war as aimless and unwise to continue,” Faizi said in a statement posted in presidential office’s website.
Rasmussen, at a press conference on Monday in Brussels, said that instead of alleging collusion with the Taliban, Afghanistan should acknowledge NATO efforts to bring progress to the country.
“I reject the idea… there is so-called collusion between NATO forces…and the Taliban. It is an absolutely ridiculous idea,” he said.
“We respect Afghan sovereignty but we want acknowledgement that we have invested blood and treasure in helping President Karzai’s country to move forward,” he added.
Kabul’s angry response deepens a war of words that threatens to derail NATO attempts to ensure a smooth security transition as international troops head home and fears grow that Afghanistan could tip into further instability.
Faizi said that Afghan people “question why after a decade, this war in their country has failed to achieve its stated goals, but rather has resulted in the loss of thousands of innocent lives”.
In a reference to neighbouring Pakistan, he added: “It is clearly known to NATO that terrorism sanctuaries are outside Afghanistan, why this war then continues in (Afghan) homes and villages unproductively?”
The United States, which provides 66,000 of the 100,000 NATO-led troops in Afghanistan, was stunned by the accusations earlier this month from Karzai, who accused the US of colluding with the Taliban to justify its presence in the country.
Many analysts say that Karzai, who rose to power with US support after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, is desperate to shake off allegations that he is a “puppet” president controlled by foreigners.
