Karzai links NATO, US to Afghanistan insecurity

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has linked the Western military alliance of NATO and the United States to growing insecurity in his country.

“Part of the insecurity is coming to us from the structures that NATO and America created in Afghanistan,” AFP quoted Karzai as saying in an interview with American television network NBC on Thursday.

The Afghan president criticized US-led forces in the country for conducting night raids and killing innocent civilians.

Afghans have become increasingly outraged at the seemingly-endless number of deadly assaults by the US-led forces in the country over the past months. The killings have been the main source of friction between Kabul and Washington.

The US claims that its operations target militants, but local people say civilians have been the main victims of the attacks.

Karzai also threatened that he would suspend negotiations on a future role for US forces in Afghanistan.

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 under the banner war on terror, removing the Taliban from power. Insecurity, however, rages on in the country 11 years into the invasion and despite the presence of some 130,000 US-led forces there.