Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said ISIS was a “tool” of the United States and that he does not differentiate between ISIS and America.
Karzai told Voice of America’s (VOA) Afghan service, “After it (the US) dropped the bomb on Afghanistan, it did not eliminate Daesh.”
“I consider Daesh their tool,” he said.
“I do not differentiate at all between Daesh and America,” he said. Karzai also dismissed criticism of Moscow's ties with the Taliban.
“They (Russia) talk to the Taliban,” Karzai said. “The US also talks to the Taliban. Norway, Germany and other countries also talk to them. Russia also has the right to hold talks with the Taliban,” he added.
However, he told VOA, “The Taliban is a major reality in today's Afghanistan. The Americans themselves say that they (Taliban) control 50 percent of the Afghan territory. When a force controls 50 percent, countries have no option but to talk to them. The US itself talks to them — they meet them in their office in Qatar.”
This comes after Karzai, on Saturday lashed out at government and the US over the bombing. He said he did not recognize the government, and had decided to work to get rid of America in Afghanistan and criticized government for “allowing the US to drop such a big non-nuclear bomb. If government approved it, the act is treason.”
He said, “The bombing was an insult to Afghanistan and that the US was just using Daesh as an excuse.” Karzai also said it was a violation of Afghanistan's sovereignty and a violation of the environment.
Last Thursday, the US fired off a Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), commonly known as the Mother of All Bombs, against a ISIS tunnel complex in the remote area of Nangarhar. Officials said this week that 96 ISIS militants were killed in the bombing.
