Karzai Blames US, NATO For Afghanistan Insecurity

Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai is blaming the US and NATO for the growing insecurity in the Middle Eastern nation. The statements were made during an exclusive interview with NBC News on Thursday.

Karzai noted, “Part of the insecurity is coming to us from the structures that NATO and America created in Afghanistan.” The president went on to say, however, that a lot of the violence in his country is also being caused by insurgent groups.

The Taliban has been regaining land and power that they lost when they were toppled by US-backed forces in 2001. Karzai has also lost favor with the White House, having gone from being a favorite of Washington under former President George W. Bush to a problem for the Obama administration.

Karzai continually criticizes American night raids as well as growing civilian casualties because of NATO troops. Many in the US have also come to believe that the president of Afghanistan is ineffective and is presiding over a government that is still very corrupt.

Yahoo! News notes that Hamid Karzai went on to say, “I have written to President Obama that the Afghan people will not allow its government to enter into a security agreement while the United States continues to violate Afghan sovereignty.”

NATO-led forces are set to leave Afghanistan in 2014, though the Obama administration has begun negotiations with the Afghan government to allow some troops to remain beyond that point. The undetermined number of troops would be present to help train Afghan security forces and carry out some counterterrorism missions.

While Karzai continually criticizes US night raids, though, he also intends to ask for billions of dollars in long-term aid for Afghanistan’s military and economy.