KABUL, June 22: President Hamid Karzai criticised the US-led coalition’s anti-terror campaign on Thursday, saying the deaths of hundreds of Afghans, including Taliban militants, is unacceptable and that his government needs more help.
Mr Karzai’s sharp assessment came as Osama bin Laden’s deputy urged Afghans to revolt against coalition forces.
To try curb the bloodshed, more than 10,000 coalition forces have launched their largest offensive against militants across southern Afghanistan. More than 600 people, mainly militants, have been killed since May.
But Mr Karzai, who has previously scorned large-scale anti-militant campaigns, rejected the continued spilling of Afghan blood in military operations.
“It is not acceptable for us that in all this fighting, Afghans are dying. In the last three to four weeks, 500 to 600 Afghans were killed. (Even) if they are Taliban, they are sons of this land,” a clearly frustrated Mr Karzai told reporters in Kabul.
Mr Karzai said the current focus on hunting Taliban militants didn’t address terrorism’s root causes.
“We must engage strategically in disarming terrorism by stopping their sources of supply of money, training, equipment and motivation,” he said.
He also said the war on terror needs to be broadened outside of Afghan borders.
“We are concerned about the increase of attacks in our country,” he said. “Some of the reasons are the internal weakness of administration in our country, but most of the factors are foreign factors, terrorism and organised attacks.”
He did not elaborate on which “foreign factors” were involved, but many Afghan officials have accused Pakistan of doing too little to catch Taliban militants planning attacks from Pakistan. Pakistan denies the claims.
Mr Karzai said Afghanistan has received considerable help in reconstruction fields, but has not been given the assistance needed to strengthen its police force, army and government administration.
“This is one of the reasons for the unhappiness between us and the international community,” he said. “We did not get the assistance and cooperation that is necessary for a strategy for counterterrorism.”
Hours before Karzai’s comments, Al Qaida number two Ayman al-Zawahri released a new tape — his sixth this year — calling on Afghans to rise up against coalition forces across the country.
“I am calling upon the Muslims in Kabul in particular and in all Afghanistan in general and for the sake of God to stand up in an honest stand in the face of the infidel forces that are invading Muslim lands,” said al-Zawahri, wearing a white turban with an automatic rifle next to him.
The 3{-minute tape, entitled “American Crimes in Kabul,” was apparently made the day after a May 29 accident in which a U.S. military truck crashed into traffic in the Afghan capital, killing up to five people. —AP
