Hamid Karzai believes the terrorist situation in the region has changed for the worse over the years
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai (2004-2014) called the results of the 20-year NATO mission in the country a failure, as the situation with terrorism in the region has changed for the worse during these years. The politician expressed this opinion in an interview with the British newspaper The Times on Wednesday.
“The country is gripped by terror, it is in a desperate situation. Look around you: we have devastation, the country is in conflict, the people of Afghanistan are forced to suffer. Why have the actions of the U.S. and NATO in Afghanistan led to this result? Those who came into the country 20 years ago in the name of fighting extremism and terrorism failed. Under their watch, extremism in Afghanistan only flourished. That is what I call a failure”, – Karzai said.
He said the presence of NATO troops in Afghanistan was supposed to be a “stabilizing factor”, but that did not happen as troops involved in the alliance mission “invaded Afghan villages, shelled civilians or broke into citizens’ homes at night and killed their families”.
“It is time for the US and NATO to leave. Whether the withdrawal will be carried out sensibly or not is another question. They should have put the world behind them, but they did not”, – said the former Afghan president.
The US operation in Afghanistan, backed by Western allies, has been ongoing since October 2001 and has become the longest overseas military campaign in American history. The final withdrawal of US troops from the country began in May. US troops are expected to leave Afghanistan by 11 September.
At the peak of the operation in 2010-2013, Western forces in Afghanistan numbered more than 150,000 troops. The main US and NATO combat forces were withdrawn from Afghanistan in 2014. Less than 10,000 troops from NATO and partner countries are now there.