Afghan president Hamid Karzai has said that security was better in southern Helmand before the arrival of British troops and questioned whether international forces had been fighting in the right part of the country for the past 10 years.
Mr Karzai, who has led the country since 2001, also said he was not sure if western forces were pulling out because they had realised the mission was a mistake, or if they believed they had successfully broken up the country’s terrorist groups.
“They feel fulfilled with regard to the objective of fighting terrorism and weakening al-Qaeda, or they feel that they were fighting in the wrong place in the first place, so they should discontinue doing that and leave,” Mr Karzai said in an interview with the Guardian and ITN before a summit with David Cameron and the Pakistani president, Asif Ali Zardari.
Mr Karzai said he felt Helmand had been more peaceful before the arrival of British and US troops in 2006, but that he did not blame the international forces for the security problems. He said Afghans were not concerned about whether the west believed their mission had failed and just wanted to rebuild their country after three decades of unrest.
“Whatever happened was the past and now we are looking forward,” he said.