NATO war aimless, unwise: Afghanistan

KABUL - Agence France-Presse

Defense Secretary Hagel speaks to members of the media aboard his aircraft en route to Kabul. The Afghan president’s controversial remarks marred the visit. AP photo

Afghanistan’s presidential spokesman described the NATO-led military operation in the war-torn nation as “aimless and unwise” on March 19, in the latest broadside by Kabul against the international coalition.

Aimal Faizi, spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, hit out after NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen rejected Karzai’s recent allegations of U.S. collusion with the Taliban. “The people of Afghanistan ask NATO to define the purpose and aim of the so-called war on terror.... (They) consider this war as aimless and unwise to continue,” Faizi said in a statement. The verbal onslaught is likely to worsen relations between Afghanistan and the international coalition that has been fighting for 11 years against militants who are trying to overthrow Karzai’s government.

Faizi said that Afghan people “question why after a decade, this war in their country has failed to achieve its stated goals, but rather has resulted in the loss of thousands of innocent lives.” In a reference to neighboring Pakistan, he added: “It is clearly known to NATO that terrorism sanctuaries are outside Afghanistan, why this war then continues in (Afghan) homes and villages unproductively?”