US presence in Afghanistan caused ‘immense suffering’ to civilians: Karzai tells Press TV

Afghanistan’s former President Hamid Karzai says the US military presence in the country on the pretext of fighting terrorism has caused “immense suffering” to the civilians and the country's infrastructure.

“US military activity in Afghanistan in the name of fighting the Taliban was causing immense suffering to the Afghan civilians and Afghan people. Children were getting hurt, women were getting hurt, families were getting hurt, homes were bombed, villages were bombed,” Karzai said in an exclusive interview with Press TV on Sunday.

"US [presence] in Afghanistan was not for peace and also probably not for improved relations between us and Pakistan," he added.

The former Afghan president also touched on the issue of intra-Afghan talks and their failure to bring peace to the country, saying he gave his full backing to the US initiative but such a process failed to yield the desired results and that “the prolongation of the talks has caused even more suffering, more conflicts.”

Pointing to a call by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to form a united and national front against the Taliban, Karzai expressed his opposition to conflict and urged both sides to stop fighting.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Karzai defended calling the Taliban "brothers" despite the group never welcoming his peace proposal.

“I would be calling specially and in particular on the Taliban to stop attacking their own country, their own villages, their own homes. I would be strongly calling on the Taliban to stop this war of foreign interests in Afghanistan,” Karzai underlined.

He warned that attacks by the Taliban serve the interests of foreign powers and could lead to internal uprising against the militant group itself.

“If they don’t stop and continue to attack Afghan homes and villages and attack Afghan dignity, there would be an uprising against them as it has already happened. And I as a citizen of Afghanistan will be with that uprising and in support of that uprising.”

The former president also called on global and regional powers, including Russia, China, Iran, and Pakistan to join hands with the Afghan people to bring a lasting peace to the country. 

The Taliban militant group continues to make rapid advances across the country, overrunning a number of provincial capitals and aggressively pushing back Afghan forces.

Taliban make rapid advances, overrun three northern Afghan cities in one day

The militants have upped the ante, launching all-out attacks on multiple provincial capitals.

The militants have wrested control of the strategic northern provinces since August 6, seizing at least five provincial capitals which have traditionally been the bastion of anti-Taliban resistance in the country.

The latest city to fall was Taloqan, the capital of the northern province of Takhar, which was overrun by the marauding militants Sunday afternoon. It became the third major provincial center to fall to the Taliban in one day, according to local reports.

Violence has been surging across Afghanistan amid the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces from the country. The 2001 invasion of Afghanistan ousted the Taliban from power, but it worsened the security situation in the country.

Taliban warn US against 'interference' in Afghan affairs

The Taliban have issued a "warning” against “US interference” in Afghanistan as the militants continued their push in several provinces.

The Taliban militants are believed to be in control of about half of Afghanistan’s roughly 400 districts.

The United Nations warned this week about the safety of tens of thousands of people trapped in the strategic city of Lashkar Gah — the capital of the southern province of Helmand — as the Taliban intensified clashes with Afghan military forces to take control.

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