Afghan President doubts NATO's war against terrorism in Afghanistan

By Farhad Peikar Nov 26, 2008, 16:47 GMT

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.