Afghan war a ‘failure’, former president Karzai says
Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai has criticised the 16-year international intervention in his country, calling it a failure.
‘‘We have more radicalism, we have more extremism, we have more attacks all around - that is failure. And more terrorist groups emerging. It is failure,’’ he told Stuff Circuit during an interview in Kabul.
Karzai was interviewed as part of Stuff Circuit’s The Valley project, including a six-part online documentary series examining New Zealand’s role in the war in Afghanistan.
Installed as interim leader soon after coalition forces overthrew the Taliban following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, Karzai won the first presidential elections in 2004.
He remained in power until 2014, having served two terms – the maximum allowed under Afghanistan’s constitution – and remains an influential figure within the country.
New Zealand joined the intervention into Afghanistan in 2001, sending the first of several rotations of special forces, and deployed a Provincial Reconstruction Team from 2003-2013.
Karzai praised the work of the PRT, which was based in the central province of Bamyan.
‘‘They were very nice people. They were earnest in helping the people of Bamyan, and I met with them actually once or twice on my visits to Bamyan, and I very much enjoyed your national, traditional welcome [the haka],’’ he said.
‘‘You came from such a faraway place. You sent your young men and women here, and spent your resources here - we’re very grateful.’’
But he questioned whether the overall effort of the coalition forces was ever going to work.
‘‘That is an issue on which I had, God knows how many conversations, appeals, pleadings with the United States or with other big partners in this arrangement. Had they listened to Afghans, had they adopted an approach that was suitable to the environment, Afghanistan would have been a very different country today.’’
The Taliban, Islamic State (ISIS) and other terror groups are waging a war against the Afghan government and coalition forces which remain.
During the first six months of this year more than 1600 civilians were killed, often in suicide attacks largely unreported in the west.
The United Nations says the human cost of the conflict is far too high and called the increasing use of improvised explosive devices ‘‘appalling’’.
More than 26,500 civilians have died in the conflict since January 2009, according to the UN.
Karzai told Stuff Circuit the coalition had come to Afghanistan to stamp out terrorist groups, including al Qaeda.
But mistakes by the coalition inflamed the insurgency.
‘‘They got it wrong by targeting Afghan homes, Afghan villages, Afghan people and not the sanctuaries outside of Afghanistan, in Pakistan. They targeted us, Afghan people, not the terrorists, not the sanctuaries, not those who perpetrated this against us and against our partners.
‘‘The Americans began to make these grave mistakes, in spite of us telling them every day, in every meeting, at all levels, from the President of the United States down to the generals and officers and diplomatic representatives.
‘‘They didn’t listen, now of course they regret, but it’s kind of late in the day.’’
A member of the High Peace Council, a government-appointed body set up in 2010 to negotiate peace with the Taliban, told Stuff Circuit in April that up to 60 per cent of rural areas in Afghanistan were now back under control of the Taliban.
Karzai said he agreed that was probably right.
He said all ordinary Afghans wanted now was peace, ‘‘just like any other society’’. – Stuff Circuit