KABUL – Some senior officials from former president Hamid Karzai’sgovernment criticized the ex-president over his recent remarks in Moscow,saying that his comments contradict his activities during his presidency.
According to the officials, Karzai had close relations with US officialswhile he was president and that he not only honored US military officersduring this time but also bestowed medals on them.
“From 2001 to 2014 Prsidnt @KarzaiH used 2 write letters of condolences tofamilies of each fallen US soldier. In the meantime, there is no record ofhim sending a single note of sympathy or condolences to families of fallenANSF. It is not 1800s to rent a historian & write tales,” former NDS chiefAmrullah Saleh tweeted on Wednesday.
One of Karzai’s first spokesmen was Jawed Ludin – who also criticizedKarzai for his remarks.
“How can we expect the world to take us seriously?” tweeted Ludin on April9.
Former national security advisor Rangin Dadfar Spanta in his book writesabout his time with Karzai. He mentions that Ashraf Ghani, the incumbentpresident, was siding with Washington’s policies on Afghanistan but thatKarzai supported Ghani during the 2014 presidential elections.
Some MPs also raised questions over Karzai’s remarks.
“Russians are officially the killers of one and a half million Afghans andwill never get on well with us. And we want to tell them that Russiansshould not sacrifice Afghans for their goals,” said Lalai Hamidzai, an MPfrom Kandahar.
“The comments which say Russia is the only country which can bring peaceand stability to Afghanistan, they are not acceptable,” said Musa Nusrat,an MP.
Karzai said in a TV interview over the weekend that the US is responsiblefor the death of Afghans, is behind the crisis and only Russia can helpAfghanistan.
Speaking to Russia’s NTV, Karzai said countries such as the US and the UKcannot help Afghanistan in its anti-terror efforts.
Only Russia can help Afghanistan in counterterrorism efforts, not theUnited States that has been killing Afghans for the past 17 years and isbehind the Afghanistan crisis, Karzai said.
“Neither the Brits, who we have kicked out of the country several times,nor the Americans (can help Afghanistan) as they’ve been killing us for 17years; only Russia can (help). We (Afghanistan) are the last barrier fromterrorists. We’ve been fighting continuously for a century and a half. Ifyou (Russia) create new relationships with Pakistan and Afghanistan, youcan help,” said Karzai.