BBC NEWS | South Asia | Karzai urges terror fight rethink

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Karzai urges terror fight rethink Karzai urges terror fight rethink
By Andrew North
BBC News, Kabul

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says the US and other international forces need to reconsider their approach to bringing peace to Afghanistan.

Violence largely blamed on the Taleban has claimed at least 1,000 lives this year - the worst toll since 2001.

He said there had to be a focus on "the sources of terrorism" where extremists get their training and inspiration.

Many Afghans will interpret that as meaning neighbouring Pakistan, from where militants often launch attacks.

Pakistan, meanwhile, has offered to build a fence along the border with Afghanistan to prevent the movement of militants.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Karzai said the US military strategy since the fall of the Taleban had not failed, in spite of the recent increase in violence.

But he warned: "We and the international community and the coalition must sit down and reconsider and rethink whether the approach to the defeat of terrorism that we have taken is the right one."

Mr Karzai then said: "I believe we have to go to the sources of it, where terrorists are trained, where terrorists are prompted up."

President Karzai denied his comment on the "sources of terrorism" was a reference to Pakistan, but his officials have said as much in the past.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri says his country has proposed building a fence along the border with Afghanistan to curb the movements of militants and drug smugglers.

Mr Kasuri told reporters in New York that the idea was put forward by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf during talks with the American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.

He rejected accusations that Pakistan was not doing enough to clamp down on the Taleban and their allies.

Elect warlords?

President Karzai also rejected criticism that too many people regarded as warlords had been allowed to stand for parliamentary elections this weekend.

"Now we have the freedom to choose. If I consider somebody a criminal, I will not vote for him or her.

"The same can be done by every other Afghan. Therefore we must use our judgement and vote for the right person."

Mr Karzai also said he wished the international community had given more aid money for reconstruction over the past three-and-a-half years.

President Karzai said he was grateful for what Afghanistan had received, but said it could have been spent more effectively.

This could have been done, he said, "through more Afghan ownership, with more calculated application and in areas where Afghans thought best - for example, road building, electricity, agriculture".

His comments are a reflection of mounting complaints among Afghans about the slow pace of rebuilding.

However, many in the international community will dispute his argument that it would have been better to allow greater Afghan control of aid funds.

There are already widespread concerns about mounting corruption.

President Karzai has been Afghanistan's leader since late 2001, and its elected leader since last year.

Asked whether he wanted to run for office again when his current term expires in 2009, he said he did not know, but he did not think so.

It might be time, he said, for new and younger people to take over.
On 13 September 2005, we go behind the headlines in Afghanistan
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