Posted on 06/21/2021 3:59:05 AM PDT by RandFan
Former president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai lambasted the U.S. in an interview published on Sunday, saying it had failed at its mission to bring stability and fight extremism since the war in Afghanistan began nearly 20 years ago.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Karzai said the U.S. and NATO troops being withdrawn from Afghanistan are leaving behind a disaster.
“The international community came here 20 years ago with this clear objective of fighting extremism and bringing stability ... but extremism is at the highest point today. So they have failed,” Karzai told the news agency.
“We recognize as Afghans all our failures, but what about the bigger forces and powers who came here for exactly that purpose? Where are they leaving us now?” Karzai asked.
Answering his own question Karzai said his country was being left “in total disgrace and disaster."
However, Karzai said he wants the troops the leave so Afghans can pursue peace, saying it was time for them to take responsibility for their future.
“We will be better off without their military presence,” the former Afghan leader said. AP reported that Karzai has often had a conflicted relationship with the U.S., often being a harsh critic while also facilitating peace talks between Afghan leadership and Western powers.
Despite leaving office in 2014, the AP notes that Karzai still carries a great deal of political influence in Afghanistan and is often at the center of the country's politics.
“I think we should defend our own country and look after our own lives. ... Their presence (has given us) what we have now. ... We don’t want to continue with this misery and indignity that we are facing. It is better for Afghanistan that they leave," he added.
“The [US/NATO military] campaign was not against extremism or terrorism, the campaign was more against Afghan villages and hopes; putting Afghan people in prisons, creating prisons in our own country ... and bombing all villages. That was very wrong," Karzai said.
The AP notes that the Taliban has made a great deal of progress since the U.S. and NATO began withdrawing from Afghanistan, overrunning dozens of districts and carrying out an assault in the Faryab province last week that killed 22 elite Afghan commandos.
Addressing both sides of the conflict, Karzai said, "The two Afghan sides, none of them should be fighting.”
“I’m very emphatic and clear about this, both sides should think of the lives of the Afghan people and the property... fighting is destruction," he added. “The only answer is Afghans getting together. ... We must recognize that this is our country and we must stop killing each other.”
LOL. It was such a paradise before we arrived there (after giving the enemy one month’s notice) in October 2001.
No, Mr. Karzai, you and your fellow thieves in Afghanistan, as well as the none-too-bright GW Bush, are responsible for the mess. Whomever got the idea of nation building in such a dump is beyond me. And the thousands of fine young men and women that we lost, the trillions thrown in the garbage can, twenty years of taxpayer commitment - all down the drain and I doubt that GW Bush could even find this execrable place on the map.
It’s not just Afghanistan or Iraq, but it seems that every major situation in the last 25-30 years our government has fumbled the ball and created more pain and misery for 99% of the people and enriched the 1% of population...
List the areas, Afghanistan, Iraq, 2008 financial crisis, Immigration, Elections, Obamacare, Russia, China, Trade, and Covid, just off the top of my head, all of those areas are disasters and ruined the lives of millions of Americans.
“failed at its mission to bring stability and fight extremism since the war in Afghanistan began nearly 20 years ago”
It is the military responsibility to bring people to the table for peace talk by removing the will to fight. That mission was completed a long time ago. Cease fires cannot last forever.
It is the politician’s responsibility to come to a peaceful agreement when the warring sides are force to the table. The Politicians in the world failed at this including Karzai.
Big government = big failure. Always!
Everything they touch turns to ....
It was a paradise before the Soviet invasion.
The Karzai family is said to have skimmed nearly a billion dollars from the war effort.
It is going to be interesting to see just how far Afghanistan collapses after the US withdraws. I think that its very possible that they end up exactly where they were in 2001. In which case, quarantine (& extreme punishment for transgressions) may be a far more effective strategy. If they want to act like zoo animals, then treat them as such.
“saying it had failed at its mission to bring stability and fight extremism since the war in Afghanistan began nearly 20 years ago.”
BS- it was HIS job to bring stability and fight extremism in the country HE was RESPONSIBLE for.
IMHO- Not one more drop of precious American blood needs to be spilled outside our borders. Close international bases, bring our people home, and make those countries responsible for taking care of their own place. It’s because of OUR defense of their lands they can afford or even think about lavish social programs simply because they don’t have to pay for their defense and security.
Another great neocon (Bush) success story /s
Thanks a lot W.
20 years I have read news feed from this joker. We wouldn’t be there at all if it wasn’t for Pakistan and Bin Laden.
We as a people should learn much from this war. The most important thing is that we cannot fix these nations. We come in, we kill whomever we have to, and we leave as quickly as possible. We owe them nothing. If we break it more, that’s on them.
He has always been sporting some seriously fly Afghan threads though. So the money clearly hasn’t all been wasted.
I wonder from which European city Hami the Afghani made these comments... If you’re going to fight for your people, it’s a good policy to do it from a safe distance.
I’m sure he is proud of himself
- He never crushed the spirit and will of the population the way the USAAF did when it firebombed and nuked Japan.
- He never defined, pursued, nor achieved total victory marked by a highly symbolic Battleship Missouri moment.
- He had no capable military administrator on the order of Macarthur to oversee the effort, deferring instead to the State Department.
- He never gave up the idiotic notion that islam is a religion of peace. The US military demanded the Japanese emperor renounce his divine status in front of the nation. There was no such paradigm shift demanded of the Afghani world view, and our troops have paid for that daily for 20 years.
The pot calling the kettle black…
I grieve for the troops (and their families) that were lost/wounded in the process.
“ We must recognize that this is our country and we must stop killing each other.”
Lol, sounds like the Dems when they’re losing.
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