KABUL: Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has accused Pakistan and the United States of using the Afghanistan war to further their own national interests, adding that Afghanistan is in “terrible shape” 16 years after the collapse of the Taliban.
He also said that Afghans who had embraced the US as a friend and liberator now see it as “hurting us, not helping us”. “That has to change,” Karzai said in an interview.
In an interview at his Kabul home, where he wore his signature ankle-length green striped coat and karakul cap, Karzai echoed complaints from Afghanistan’s current government that accused neighbouring Pakistan of harbouring Taliban militants and urged the US to impose sanctions on Pakistani military and intelligence officials.
Citing US President Donald Trump’s New Year’s Day tweet that accused Pakistan of “lies and deceit”, Karzai said, “We hope the US will now act against Pakistan.”
But he added that “doesn’t mean that the Pakistani people should be hurt or that war should be launched in Pakistan”.
“In other words, I want the US to impose sanctions on the Pakistan military and the intelligence, not on the Pakistani people,” Karzai said.
The interview occurred a day after the US lawmakers questioned the direction of America’s longest war.