KABUL (TNS): Afghanistan’s former president Hamid Karzai has said that the United States and Pakistan are pursuing their own interests in the Afghan war, calling on Washington to slap sanctions on the Pakistani military and intelligence officials.
In an interview with the US based news agency, Karzai said that Afghanistan is still in terrible shape sixteen years after the US-led intervention that toppled the Taliban regime.
“The US cannot tell us ‘well if I am not here, you will be worse off.’ We are in a terrible shape right now. We want to be better. We want to have peace. We want to have security,” Karzai maintained.
“We hope the US will now act in Pakistan,” he said. “Act in Pakistan doesn’t mean that the people in Pakistan should be hurt or that war should be launched in Pakistan,” he added.
Karzai said Washington wants to establish permanent bases in Afghanistan to project power in the region, while Pakistan wants to turn Afghanistan into a client state.
“In my view, their intention is to keep us divided and weak so they can carry on their objectives in this region,” Karzai said. “They have their global politics and rivalries. They have China as a great rising power. They have Russia as a revitalized, re-energized great power on the world scene and they feel threatened and challenged.”
He said US forces are not in Afghanistan “to stop extremism.” Karzai called on the United States to sanction Pakistani military and intelligence officials.
Meanwhile, the ousted governor of Balkh Atta Mohammad Noor has said that the government has failed to provide security to the people. “$4 billion are spent annually, but where is security,” asked Noor. “Why are enemy’s plots and conspiracies not foiled, it is clear that you send our youths to the slaughterhouse and steal their rights, you don’t have management, you don’t have leadership, you don’t have patriotism and courage,” added Noor. Critics have accused the government of monopolizing power instead of tackling national issues.
“Both from the political perspective and responsibility perspective, Afghanistan is now in a legal vacuum, this indicates that the situation is not too good, but it is very bad,” said Ahmad Wali Massoud, head of the Massoud Foundation.
“We want reforms to be put in place in the independent election commission, we want elections, we want the government to hold the elections on time and bring systematic change in the election commission,” said Sayed Jan Khakrezwal, head of Kandahar provincial council.
The federal cabinet of Pakistan on Tuesday deferred some key agenda items, including the proposed approval of a comprehensive policy regarding repatriation of Afghan refugees for this year.
‘Afghan management and repatriation policy 2018’ was part of the 16-point agenda items of the cabinet huddle presided over by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
The item was moved by the States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Division to provide a detailed roadmap for uninterrupted repatriation of the Afghan refugees back to their homeland in the on-going year.
