Karzai Blasts US, NATO; Seeks Timeline

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Karzai Blasts US, NATO; Seeks Timeline
November 27, 2008
Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghanistan's president sharply critiqued the seven-year Afghan war Nov. 26, complaining that U.S. and NATO troops haven't made life better. The criticism came a day after he accused foreign forces of undermining him with a "parallel government" in the countryside.

The back-to-back barbs aimed at the international community's handling of the fight with the Taliban and the rebuilding of Afghanistan underlined President Hamid Karzai's increasing frustration with a conflict that has gotten bloodier each year.

"We haven't accepted the international community so our lives would get worse. We accepted them so our lives would get better," Karzai said Wednesday. "We can accept some destruction - even some civilian casualties - if we have hope for a future of security and peace ... but this (style of) fighting can't be the only way forever."

During a meeting Nov. 25 with a U.N. Security Council delegation, Karzai called for the international community to set a timeline for ending the war, although he didn't mention a specific date. He asked how - given the number of countries involved and the amount of money spent in Afghanistan - "a little force like the Taliban can continue to exist, continue to flourish."

The president expanded on that idea Nov. 26 during a joint news conference with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, saying he was not asking for a withdrawal date, but rather a "date for your success."



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