NEW YORK: Stating that he was confident of the new Pakistan government’s “good intentions”, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has supported Islamabad’s move to make peace with the Taliban who do not pose any threat.
“But, he told a leading US newspaper, “if the deal is with those that are hard-core terrorists, Al Qaeda, and are bent upon sooner or later again causing damage to Pakistan, and to Afghanistan and to the rest of the world, then that’s wrong and we should definitely not do it.”
Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani has already laid down Pakistan’s policy in clear terms: His government would negotiate with only those militants who lay down their arms to bring peace to the region.
President Karzai, in an interview with the New York Times published on Saturday, said he did not know Baitullah Mehsud, the tribal leader in South Waziristan, but said he would send him some advice:
“All that he is doing is hurting his own people, that he shouldn’t do that.”
The Afghan leader said that the change of government in Pakistan could bring progress against terrorism. “We began on a very good note,” he said of relations with the new PPP-led government.
“I am fairly confident of their good intentions,” President Karzai said. “If the current government has the full backing of the military and intelligence circles in Pakistan and with the good intentions that they have, things will improve.”
Karzai also strongly criticized the British and American conduct of the war in Afghanistan, insisting that his government be given the lead in policy decisions.
He said that he wanted American forces to stop arresting suspected Taliban and their sympathizers, and that the continued threat of arrest and past mistreatment were discouraging Taliban from coming forward to lay down their arms.
He criticized the American-led coalition as prosecuting the war on terrorism in Afghan villages, saying the real terrorist threat lay in, what he called, sanctuaries of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan.
The president said that civilian casualties, which have dropped substantially since last year, needed to cease completely. For nearly two years the American-led coalition has refused to recognize the need to create a trained police force, he said, leading to a critical lack of law and order.
The Times said that the Afghan leader tried to look assertive with an eye on the next election. He rejected criticism of his weak leadership and failure to stop corruption, pointing out the “immense difficulties” that he and his government faced - “What is it we have not gone through?” - while trying to rebuild a state that was utterly destroyed.
He called instead for greater respect of Afghanistan’s fierce independence, and for more attention to be paid to building up the country, than doing things for it.
Karzai said he was fighting corruption.
He admitted that “lots of things” in the last six
years could have been handled better and singled out policies led by the United States, namely tackling terrorism and handling the Taliban, both as prisoners and on the battlefield.
On terrorism, he repeated his call that sanctuaries across the border in Pakistan be closed off.
“There is no way but to close the sanctuaries,” he said. “Pakistan will have no peace, Pakistan’s progress will suffer, so will Afghanistan’s peace and progress, so will the world’s. If you want to live, and live in peace, and work for prosperity, that has to happen. The sanctuaries must go, period.”
The deaths of civilians in the fighting have also been a big problem, he said. “It seriously undermines our efforts to have an effective campaign against terrorism,” he said. While NATO says civilian casualties have declined in the last six months, Karzai said that was not good enough.
“I am not happy with civilian casualties coming down;
I want an end to civilian casualties,” he said. “As much as one may argue it’s difficult, I don’t accept that argument.”
He said the issue had caused tension between him and American officials. “While those moments were very, very difficult, I must also be fair to say that our partners in America have recognized my concerns and have acted on them in good faith.”
One of the biggest mistakes of the last six years has been the handling of the Taliban, he said, and the failure of his government to guarantee former members the amnesty that Karzai promised when the movement was toppled in December 2001.
He blamed mistreatment by some warlords and American forces for driving the Taliban out of the country, to Pakistan, where they regrouped and took up weapons again.
“Some of the warlords, and the coalition forces at times, in certain areas of the country, behaved in a manner that frightened the Taliban to move away from Afghanistan,” he said. “That should not have happened.”
Asked if he could stop American forces from arresting suspected Taliban or their sympathizers in Afghanistan, he said, “We are working hard on it, very hard on it.” He added, “It has to happen.”
Karzai said he had not complained to the Americans about their treatment of people in their custody, despite long detentions, because he did not have details of specific cases.
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