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‘U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan Isn’t Working’ – Reiterates Karzai
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has once again lashed out the United States, saying the U.S. Afghan strategy is not working and that the security situation has been deteriorated his war-weary country.
Speaking during an interview with China’s CGTN TV channel, Karzai said that the Afghan people call for change in the U.S. policy and when that happens peace would be ensured in Afghanistan.
“Unfortunately, it [the U.S. strategy] isn’t working at all. The security situation in Afghanistan is worsened considerably and the suffering of our people has increased considerably. It is exactly because of this, “ Karzai said. “Change means an end to war and end to violence and reaching peace for that the Afghan people believe there are two main responsible countries, one is the United States and there is Pakistan.”
Karzai also put doubts on the prospects of withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan, saying that the U.S. military won’t leave Afghanistan “completely”.
“We don’t believe the United States will leave Afghanistan. They may reduce the presence of their troops in Afghanistan. But we don’t think they will leave completely. We don’t think they will leave their base in Afghanistan,” he said.
Karzai stressed that when the U.S. decided to leave Afghanistan, it would be important for regional and global powers mainly China take the initiative of creating two environments of guarantees – “from our neighbors towards Afghanistan especially Pakistan and from Afghanistan towards our neighbors especially Pakistan so Afghanistan can be stable and peaceful.”
The former president stressed that the U.S. presence was seen as “conducive” to the better development of peace in Afghanistan by neighbors.
“The presence of the U.S. in Afghanistan… is seen as creating or being conducive towards cooperation in Afghanistan rather than the environment of confrontation that we have today,” he said.
The former Afghan leader meanwhile, said that peace cannot only come by the efforts of Afghan government because according to him the foundation or original nature of conflict is foreign. He noted that the only way forward for achieving peace is that the Afghan government and Taliban should talk and to ensuring that he considered to the role of countries involved in the Afghan war highly important including the U.S. and Pakistan.
Karzai’s remarks come as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a surprise visit to Kabul last week called the U.S. strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia as effective and successful.
Officials at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) say 7,000 incomplete projects of the World Bank are at risk of destruction in Afghanistan. They call on the World Bank to resume the work of these projects.
According to them, discussions have been held with the World Bank about these projects, but there has been no result yet.
“7,000 incomplete projects are being destroyed, and if the work is not started, these projects will be destroyed. We ask the World Bank to resume the work of these projects as soon as possible,” said Noorul Hadi Adel, the spokesperson of MRRD.
Meanwhile, members of the private sector also ask international institutions to resume their work in Afghanistan.
According to the officials of this sector, with the start of these projects, job opportunities will be provided for thousands of people in the country.
“These projects create employment for our people and the country will grow a lot,” said Mirwais Hajizadeh, a member of the private sector.
However, economic experts stated if the work of these projects does not start soon, they will be destroyed and the investments made in them will be wasted.
Ten people have been killed and six others injured by floods in Helmand province in the past week, local officials said on Friday.
According to officials, seven of those were members of the same family, and they were killed in Kajaki district last night.
“Most of the people moved from vulnerable areas to high lands and mountains, and thanks Allah the number of casualties is low,” Sher Mohammad Vahdat, the head of information of the Directorate of Information and Culture in Helmand, said adding rescue teams and security forces have been dispatched to help people.
It is said that the telecommunication system has also been disrupted due to the effect of floods in Kajaki district. Floods have also destroyed thousands of acres of agricultural land.
Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, met with the Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi and discussed issues related to Afghanistan, it was announced on Thursday.
During the meeting, Otunbayeva thanked India for “its critical humanitarian support and longstanding friendship for the Afghan people” and discussed the importance of regional and international cooperation to address prevailing challenges in Afghanistan, UNAMA said on X.
Jaishankar also said on X that the sides exchanged views on the current situation in Afghanistan.
“Underlined that India has provided wheat, medicines, pesticides and school supplies. Appreciate the role of UN agencies as partners in these endeavors,” he said.
IEA urges World Bank to resume work on 7,000 incomplete projects
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