KABUL, July 6: Afghan President Hamid Karzai said violence in his country would not be ended by military means alone while Britain said on Thursday it was considering sending more troops to Afghanistan because of heavy fighting.
Hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks and the US-led coalition said on Thursday another member of its force had been killed. A British soldier was shot dead in a clash on Wednesday, the sixth to die in four weeks.
Mr Karzai told an international conference in Tokyo that many Afghans were being killed by terrorists from outside Afghanistan. He repeated a call for terrorism to be tackled at its roots.
“While there is currently a mighty struggle against terrorism going on in Afghanistan, this menace cannot be defeated by military means alone,” Mr Karzai said in a speech. His comments were released by his office in Kabul on Thursday.
“We must redouble our efforts on all dimensions of the war against terrorism, go after terrorists and their sources of training, inspiration and financing.”
The United States says the insurgents benefit from sanctuaries on the Pakistani side of the lawless border.
Pakistan denies helping the Taliban but says small groups of militants are criss-crossing the border, where it too is fighting Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked militants.
The Taliban have intensified attacks as a Nato peacekeeping mission prepares to take over from a separate US-led force in the country’s south. The violence has taken both the government and its western backers by surprise.
Mr Karzai said drug money was fuelling the violence. —Reuters
