Former president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai has accused United States of working with the Islamic State—also known as ISIL, ISIS, IS—in his country.
In an interview with Al Jazeera TV, Karzai said the US government had allowed IS to flourish inside Afghanistan.
“In my view under the full presence, surveillance, military, political, intelligence, IS [ISIL] has emerged,” he said. “And for two years the Afghan people came, cried loud about their suffering, of violations. Nothing was done.”
According to the former Afghan president, the US administration under President Donald Trump made IS an excuse to drop a massive bomb in Afghanistan in April 2017. But, Karzai said, the very next day IS took over another district of Afghanistan.
“That proves to us that there is a hand in it and that hand can be no one else but them [the US] in Afghanistan.”
GBU-43, the largest non-nuclear bomb, the US used in combat was dropped in the Achin district of Nangarhar province, close to the border with Pakistan, reportedly killing at least 36 IS fighters and destroying tunnel complex of the armed group.
The US Central Command said the strike was designed to minimise the risk to Afghan and US forces conducting clearing operations in the area.
The explosive also known as the mother of all bombs was equal to 11 tonnes of TNT (trinitrotoluene) with a blast radius of 1.6 kilometres. Witnesses said they felt the ground shake after the explosion while others described towering flames in the aftermath.
At that time, Karzai also condemned the attack calling it an inhumane act and most brutal misuse of Afghanistan as a testing ground for new and dangerous weapons.
He also criticised Western organisations which he claimed were complicit in covering up US crimes.
Karzai also approved of the recent decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor to investigate war crimes committed in Afghanistan.”She’s right to launch such an investigation,” Karzai said, acknowledging that such crimes may have occurred on his watch.”Definitely, there were violations by the Afghan security forces, by the US, and by others.”
The former president was open to having his own complicity investigated, and stated that he would help the ICC investigation.
“I have been asking for this so that they come to Afghanistan and investigate as to what has happened in this country.”
