Latest comments by President Hamid Karzai have been quite inflammatory and filled with anger. While US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel had arrived on his first diplomatic visit to Kabul, President Karzai in a televised speech on Sunday March 10, said that the strategy of Taliban has kept Afghanistan unstable for the purpose of making ground feasible for US forces to stay in Afghanistan after 2014.
He said that representatives of Taliban have been holding talks with the US on daily basis. Pointing towards the March 9 bombings by Taliban in Kabul and Khost, Mr. Karzai said, "The bombing that took place yesterday and was carried out in the name of the Taliban -- these actions, in fact, show that the Taliban are serving the foreigners and are not against the foreigners”.
Comments by Karzai on US-Taliban meeting have been rejected by US high authorities including Chuck Hagel and US Ambassador in Kabul, James Cunningham and have said that their country has sacrificed much to support the Afghans.
Such war of words is not in favor of stability of Afghanistan and only benefits the insurgents at times when the NATO troops are set to withdraw from the country by the end of the next year. At such a crucial time both the US and Afghan governments must closely cooperate with each other and chalk out a strategy on how to deal with post-2014 scenario.
Taliban are considered the greatest threat to security of Afghanistan and they might give a very tough time to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) once the NATO troops are pulled out. Therefore, growing strength and potential of Taliban should be understood and measures to counter them must be taken without wasting the time.
The counter-terrorism war has taken much sacrifice from both the Afghans and the international troops deployed in this country. Thousands of Afghan security forces and civilians have lost their lives. Same is the case with the coalition forces. These sacrifices need to be admired.
On the other side, billions of dollars have poured in Afghanistan to boost economic, social, educational sectors and infrastructure of Afghanistan. With the help from international community, Afghanistan has had significant gains in various areas. Nonetheless, if Afghan government and its backers show immaturity at a time when Afghanistan is standing at a very crucial point, all gains could be last within days.