Kabul - Seven years after the fall of the Taliban in the US-
led invasion in Afghanistan, the NATO war on terrorism remains
'unclear', President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday - and demanded a
timeline for its success.
'This fight against terrorism and civilian casualties has been
continuing for the past seven years. Our villages are bombarded, our
people are getting killed,' Karzai told a joint press conference with
NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer in his presidential
palace.
Karzai said Afghanistan was burning because of 'a war which is
unclear what it is for, and what we are doing.'
Karzai's remarks came a day after he told the representatives of
14 members of the UN Security Council in Kabul that the Afghan people
wanted to know that how long the fight against terrorism would
continue.
'The Afghans don't understand any more how a little force like the
Taliban can continue to exist, can continue to flourish, can continue
to launch attacks with 40 countries in Afghanistan, with entire NATO
force in Afghanistan, with entire international community behind them
- yet still we are not able to defeat the Taliban,' Karzai's office
said in a statement.
The UNSC delegation headed by Giulio Terzi, Italy's ambassador to
the Security Council arrived in Kabul for a three-day-visit on
Monday.
'It is better that you should set a timeline for your victory, for
the victory of all us against terrorism. Not a timeline for
withdrawal, but set a date when this war can succeed, and under what
conditions this war can succeed,' Karzai told reporters.
Karzai said his country and people were ready to bear more
suffering and sustain more casualties only if they knew that there
was some hope for them in future.
'This war cannot be for ever, and our people cannot be burned in a
war whose end is unclear.'
Speaking at the same news conference, the visiting NATO chief said
the alliance wanted to finish the war against Taliban and their al-
Qaeda allies 'sooner than later'.
The president told UNSC on Tuesday that his country could not
accept that 70,000 international troops should be present in his
country, but the Taliban could still continue to undermine the
progress in Afghanistan.
Karzai, who has been outspoken recently against the civilian
deaths caused in anti-insurgent operations by international troops,
said that he had no authority to stop the killings.
'I don't have a net that I can use to catch the aircraft. If I had
the net I would have thrown it and caught the aircraft. If I had it,
I would have stopped the American planes,' he said.
Scheffer said civilian casualties during their operations were
'inevitable', adding that operations were carried out 'with utmost
scrutiny and utmost care.'
He added: 'I regret that innocent civilians are losing their
lives, but I have never met any NATO soldier who intentionally kills
innocent Afghan civilians.'
Around 1,500 civilians have been among 4,000 people killed in the
first eight months of this year in the country, according to UN
estimates - 39 per cent higher than the same period last year.
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