Karzai says US, NATO created 'parallel' government

[November 26, 2008]  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- President Hamid Karzai criticized the U.S. and other foreign countries for creating a "parallel government" in the countryside during a blunt overview of Afghanistan's problems before a U.N. Security Council delegation.

Karzai called Tuesday for the international community to set a timeline to end the war in Afghanistan and asked why -- given the number of countries involved and the amount of money spent -- the Taliban remains so powerful.

"This war has gone on for seven years, the Afghans don't understand anymore, how come a little force like the Taliban can continue to exist, can continue to flourish, can continue to launch attacks," he asked.

With an entire NATO force in Afghanistan and the entire international community behind them, "still we are not able to defeat the Taliban," Karzai told the gathering at his presidential palace.

Karzai -- facing re-election next year and making increasing overtures to conservative Afghan tribes most likely to vote for him -- has been criticized for being ineffective and weak, while his government was accused of deep-seated corruption.

The president's Tuesday comments appear to be a response to that criticism and lay the blame for the deteriorating security situation and other woes on the international community.

Foreign governments, the United States in particular, have been ramping up military and aid efforts in Afghanistan. The U.S. has some 32,000 troops in the country, but military leaders say up to 20,000 more could be sent to Afghanistan next year.

President-elect Barack Obama has said he will increase America's focus on Afghanistan. Despite that, Karzai for the first time said a timeline for the end of the war needs to be set.

"If there is no deadline, we have the right to find another solution for peace and security, which is negotiations," Karzai said.

International forces have set up a countryside system of joint military and civilian teams whose primary task is not combat but reconstruction and development. But Karzai said the presence of the so-called provincial reconstruction teams, or PRTs, has undermined provincial governments.

"The problem here is, in a diverting play, the presence of the international community has created a parallel government to those such as of the Afghan government that are functioning. The PRTs in certain parts of the country have become a parallel structure to the governor of the province," he told the U.N. team.

Karzai did not elaborate on how the reconstruction teams had created parallel governments, but the significant amount of international aid attached to them would wield substantial influence in impoverished regions.

He also complained that private security companies "have become a parallel structure to the security forces of Afghanistan," employing thousands of Afghans, most with criminal backgrounds, who are "equally as harassing to the Afghan population as Taliban and other terrorist outfits."

An estimated 40,000 private security guards are employed in Afghanistan, a senior NATO official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the figure.

Security has deteriorated in Afghanistan since the presidential elections in 2004, because the international community lost focus and allowed the Taliban to regroup and create sanctuaries in neighboring Pakistan, which were not addressed until last year, Karzai said.

"Rather than conducting the war against terrorism, and the sanctuaries, we began to conduct this war in the villages of Afghanistan where there were no terrorists," Karzai said. He said bombings and operations in the villages must stop, a demand he has made repeatedly in the face of civilian deaths from U.S. and NATO bombings.

Despite billions of dollars in aid and major construction finished since the a U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban in 2001, Karzai said Afghan people have not seen security. He called for more investment to develop and quickly expand the army and police force.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said its troops killed 25 militants and detained 10 more in operations in the east and south of the country, which are centers of the Taliban-led insurgency.

On Wednesday, troops killed 15 militants and detained four others in a raid on a compound associated with a roadside bombing network in southern Kandahar province, the military said in a statement.

Another 10 militants were killed during raids in eastern Paktia and Paktika provinces on Tuesday, the statement said.

More than 5,500 people -- mostly militants -- have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year according to an Associated Press tally of figures provided by Afghan and Western officials.

[Associated Press; By FISNIK ABRASHI]

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