Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has lost faith in the US strategy in Afghanistan and is increasingly looking to Pakistan to end the insurgency, according to reports in the British media from Kabul.
According to people close to Amrullah Saleh, Afghanistan’s former head of intelligence services, who resigned last weekend, Mr Karzai had lost confidence some time ago in the ability of Nato forces to defeat the Taliban.
The Guardian’s report from Kabul says that privately Mr Saleh has told aides that he believes Mr Karzai’s approach is dangerously out of step with the strategy of his western backers.
“There came a time when [Mr Karzai] lost his confidence in the capability of the coalition or even his own government [to protect] this country,” a key aide told the Guardian.
Mr Saleh is reportedly deeply concerned by Mr Karzai’s noticeably softer attitude towards Pakistan. The report quoted Mr Saleh’s friends as saying that because Mr Karzai believes Nato is unable to deal with insurgent sanctuaries on the eastern border, he is looking for an alternative strategy.
Rather than use western support to “harden” Afghanistan against its neighbour, he is instead striking a less robust attitude to Pakistan and the Taliban. —PTI