KABUL (AFP) President Hamid Karzai said Sunday Washingtons war strategy for Afghanistan needed a rethink, as a Taliban-led insurgency gathers pace and foreign forces casualties surge. Karzai made the comments to the visiting Norbert Lammert, president of the German parliament, the Afghan presidents office said in a statement. Speaking about Afghanistan and regional security (Karzai) said that the strategy of the war on terrorism must be reassessed, the statement said. The experience over the past eight years showed that fighting (Taliban) in Afghan villages has been ineffective and is not achieving anything but killing civilians. Rethinking counter-insurgency strategies in Afghanistan was the war-torn countrys most pressing need, Karzai said. This has become a serious need in the current situation, he was quoted saying. Earlier in the week, the Western-backed Karzai told American officials that Washington and its NATO allies must shift their military focus to insurgent hideouts on the Pakistani side of the border. Speaking to US congressmen Karzai said the US-led military campaign had not made progress, blaming the shortcomings on Washingtons handling of post-Taliban Afghanistan. The lack of progress in the war on terror has two factors: one the terror sanctuaries have not been addressed and second because civilians were killed during this war, he said. He also said that President Obamas plans to begin withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan next year had boosted Taliban spirits.