Kabul: Afghanistan’s former president Hamid Karzai in an explosive interview to AP on Sunday said that the United States came to Afghanistan to fight extremism and bring stability to his war-tortured nation and is leaving nearly 20 years later, having failed at both.
Karzai’s remark comes just weeks before the last US and NATO troops leave Afghanistan, ending their forever war. Karzai said extremism is at its “highest point” and the departing troops 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,” he said.
Their legacy is a war-ravaged nation in “total disgrace and disaster”, he said. Still, Karzai, who had a conflicted relationship with the United States during his 13-year rule, wanted the troops to leave, saying Afghans were united behind an overwhelming desire for peace and needed now to take responsibility for their future.
“We will be better off without their military presence,” he said. “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.
In April, when President Joe Biden announced the final withdrawal of the remaining 2,500-3,500 troops, he said America was leaving having achieved its goals. Al-Qaeda had been greatly diminished and bin Laden was dead. America no longer needed boots on the ground to fight the terrorist threats that might emanate from Afghanistan, he said.
