Agence France-Presse,
London: The NATO-led force in Afghanistan should focus on training Afghan security forces and strengthening domestic institutions, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in an interview broadcast Tuesday.
Karzai also told Channel 4 News he was concerned about reports that neighbouring Iran was helping to arm the Islamist Taliban militia and would discuss the issue with Iranian officials.
“The answer to the difficulty in Afghanistan is the strengthening of the Afghan institutions, not adding more troops, from any country to Afghanistan,” Karzai said.
“We need NATO to train more Afghan forces, we need NATO to train more Afghan police, we need NATO to, or the countries of NATO, to concentrate on enhancing the abilities of the Afghan government, the civil services.
“The strengthening of Afghan institutions and for Afghans shouldering more of the responsibility is the way forward.”
Thirty-seven nations are contributing around 40,000 troops to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
But the US, Britain and Canada are doing the lion's share of the fighting and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates is expected to call on NATO defence ministers at a meeting in the Netherlands Wednesday for reinforcements.
Karzai also reiterated his concerns over the number of civilian casualties from NATO-led operations in Afghanistan, saying it was of “very serious concern” to the Afghan people.
A nomad child was killed Tuesday after clashes between NATO-led forces and insurgents, while ISAF is currently looking into claims that 13 civilians were killed in a bombing raid on Monday west of Kabul.
“Six years on (from the US-led invasion of the country in 2001), the continuation of civilian casualties is something our people cannot understand, and rightly so,” Karzai said.
Asked whether he was concerned by reports that Iran was helping to arm the Taliban, which was ousted in 2001 but has been mounting a violent insurgency in the past year, Karzai said: “It's something that definitely worries us.”
“Since we have close relations with Iran, we have the liberty to discuss these issues with them,” he added, noting that he had spoken to Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki recently on the subject.
“It's something that worries us, they deny it, but we will have to find out the truth.”
The top US commander in Afghanistan, General Dan McNeill, said earlier this month that a convoy of explosives intercepted in September had arrived from Iran and probably with the knowledge of the Iranian military.
US and British officials have alleged for months that weapons from Iran are going to the Taliban. Iran has denied the allegations and Afghanistan has also said it has no proof.
