KABUL/COPENHAGEN - Afghanistan’s presidential spokesman on Tuesday described the Nato-led military operation in the country as ‘aimless and unwise’, in the latest government broadside against the coalition.
Aimal Faizi, spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, hit out after Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen rejected Karzai’s recent allegations that it was working in collusion with Taliban militants. “The people of Afghanistan ask Nato to define the purpose and aim of the so-called war on terror... (They) consider this war as aimless and unwise to continue,” Faizi said in a statement.
The verbal onslaught is set to worsen relations between Afghanistan and the international coalition that has been fighting for 11 years against militants who are trying to overthrow Karzai’s government.
In recent weeks Karzai has been staking out increasingly nationalist ground as he prepares for his final year in office before he steps down when presidential elections are held in April 2014.
Next year will also see the withdrawal of all Nato combat troops from Afghanistan, leaving poorly-trained and inexperienced local security forces to take on the insurgents alone.
Rasmussen, at a press conference earlier Tuesday in Brussels, said that instead of alleging collusion with the Taliban, Afghanistan should acknowledge Nato efforts to bring progress to the country. “I reject the idea... there is so-called collusion between Nato forces... and the Taliban. It is an absolutely ridiculous idea,” he said.
“We respect Afghan sovereignty but we want acknowledgement that we have invested blood and treasure in helping President Karzai’s country to move forward,” he said.
Kabul’s angry response deepens a war of words that threatens to derail Nato attempts to ensure a smooth security transition as international troops head home and fears grow that Afghanistan could tip into further instability. Faizi said that Afghan people “question why after a decade, this war in their country has failed to achieve its stated goals, but rather has resulted in the loss of thousands of innocent lives”.
In a reference to neighbouring Pakistan, he added: “It is clearly known to Nato that terrorism sanctuaries are outside Afghanistan, why this war then continues in (Afghan) homes and villages unproductively?”
The US, which provides 66,000 of the 100,000 Nato-led troops in Afghanistan, was left floundering by accusations that it worked with the Taliban to plant suicide bombs.
Many analysts say that Karzai, who rose to power with US support after the fall of Taliban regime in 2001, is desperate to shake off allegations that he is a “puppet” president controlled by foreigners.
In a series of recent moves he demanded the US hand over suspected militants, banned US special forces from the strategic province of Wardak over alleged abuses and stopped local forces from calling in US air support.
The White House has rejected Karzai’s allegations, while General Joseph Dunford, the US commander of Nato forces, last week admitted that they were “at a rough point in the relationship” with Karzai’s government.
Meanwhile Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said Denmark will withdraw half of its 650 soldiers from Afghanistan in August, a year earlier than planned.
An infantry unit had been due to be replaced in the volatile Helmand province in August but Thorning-Schmidt said that this would no longer take place based on an assessment by British and Danish defence officials.