Ex-president Karzai says US failed in Afghanistan, ‘total disgrace and disaster’
- US troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11 after 20 years of war
- Ex-president Hamid Karzai says US and Nato’s legacy is war-ravaged nation in ‘total disgrace and disaster’
Afghanistan’s former president said the United States came to his country to fight extremism and bring stability to his war-tortured nation and is leaving nearly 20 years later having failed at both.
In an interview with Associated Press just weeks before the last US and Nato troops leave Afghanistan, ending their “forever war”, Hamid Karzai said extremism is at its “highest point” and the departing troops are leaving behind a disaster.
“The international community came here 20 years ago with this clear objective of fighting extremism and bringing stability … but extremism is at the highest point today. So they have failed,” he said.
Their legacy is a war-ravaged nation in “total disgrace and disaster”
“We recognise as Afghans all our failures, but what about the bigger forces and powers who came here for exactly that purpose? Where are they leaving us now?” he asked and answered: “In total disgrace and disaster.”
Still, Karzai, who had a conflicted relationship with the United States during his 13-year rule, wanted the troops to leave, saying Afghans were united behind an overwhelming desire for peace and needed now to take responsibility for their future.
