NATO war unwise to continue: Afghan spokesman

KABUL -- The Afghan chief presidential spokesman on Tuesday described as aimless the NATO-led war against terror in the insurgency-hit country.

Spokesman Aimal Faizi made the comments one day after NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen during his monthly briefing in Brussels rejected the Afghan President Hamid Karzai's recent accusation that the United States of colluding with the Taliban.

On March 10, Karzai accused the United States of conspiring with the Taliban to keep foreign troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014, when NATO is going to end its combat mission.

"The people of Afghanistan ask NATO to define the purpose and aim of the so-called war on terror, as they question why after a decade, this war in their country has failed to achieve its stated goals, but rather has resulted in the loss of thousands of innocent lives and destruction of their homes," Faizi said in a statement posted in presidential office's website.

"The people of Afghanistan ask NATO Secretary General that while it is clearly known to NATO that terrorism sanctuaries are outside Afghanistan, why this war then continues in their homes and villages unproductively?" he noted.

Afghan officials often blamed Pakistan for backing Taliban militants, a claim rejected by Islamabad as groundless.

The Taliban has been waging an insurgency since its regime was toppled by a U.S-led invasion in late 2001.

Currently about 100,000 NATO-led forces, with nearly 66,000 of them Americans are deployed in the country to halt the Taliban attempt from returning to power.

"Therefore, the Afghan people consider this war as aimless and unwise to continue," he said. nepalnews.com