Friday, December 7, 2012

EXCLUSIVE: US behind Afghan 'insecurity,' Karzai says

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has criticized NATO night raids and mounting civilian casualties at the hands of foreign troops.

By Atia Abawi, NBC News

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan President Hamid Karzai sharply criticized the United States in an exclusive interview with NBC News on Thursday, blaming American and NATO forces for some of the growing insecurity in his country.?

"Part of the insecurity is coming to us from the structures that NATO and America created in Afghanistan," Karzai said?during a one-on-one interview at the presidential palace.?However, he also acknowledged that much of the country's violence was caused by insurgent groups.?

The Taliban are regaining land and power lost after they were toppled by U.S.-backed forces in 2001. Meanwhile,?Karzai?has gone from being a favorite of Washington under the presidency of George W. Bush, to a thorn in the White House's side with his criticism of American troops' night raids and mounting civilian casualties at the hands of foreign troops.

After 10 years of Karzai's rule, has life improved in Afghanistan?

The president,?who is serving his second five-year term, also told NBC News that he would not sign any new security agreements with the United States until?hundreds of prisoners held in U.S. custody were transferred to Afghan authorities.

Karzai said the inmates in American detention in Afghanistan were being held in breach of an agreement he and Barack Obama signed in March and must be transferred immediately to Afghan authorities. ??

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More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

His criticism of the United States, Afghanistan's most important ally, has come after the start of complex bilateral talks on a security pact on the role the United States would play after most of its troops are withdrawn by the end of 2014.?

During the interview, Karzai also said that he didn't think al-Qaida has a presence in Afghanistan.

NBC News' F. Brinley Bruton and Kiko Itasaka contributed to this report.

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/06/15717342-exclusive-us-nato-behind-insecurity-in-afghanistan-karzai-says?lite

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