KABUL--Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has sharply criticised new authorities giving the U.S. military greater freedom to fight Taliban insurgents, saying they were a further erosion of the country's sovereignty.
In an interview, Karzai, who continues to exert considerable behind-the-scenes influence on Afghan politics, also called on the Islamist militant movement to be more realistic in demands that have hampered progress in peace talks. His comments on American involvement in the war were at odds with the government of his successor, President Ashraf Ghani, which has welcomed U.S. political and military support.
"How could the U.S. president authorize U.S. troops to launch attacks on their own in Afghanistan?" Karzai said, referring to Barack Obama's June decision to alter the rules of engagement for the American military. "Don't we have a government here? Aren't we a sovereign country?"
The new authorities, which U.S. officials say were agreed with the Afghan government, affect ground operations where U.S. troops provide support to Afghan forces as well as air combat, and Karzai has long been critical of U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan, be they by fighter jets, helicopters or drones. He would ban them altogether, even though the Afghan armed forces, struggling to contain the insurgency, say they could not cope without support from the skies and want more.
The former leader's opposition reflects broader unease among Afghans who believe innocent people have been killed in air attacks targeting militants, unease that may grow with new powers granted to the U.S. military. The U.S. says its air strikes support Afghan operations and it takes extreme care to avoid civilian casualties, despite incidents such as the bombing of a Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital in Kunduz last year in which 42 people died.
Calling Afghanistan the victim of a 21st century version of the "Great Game" between competing powers on the 19th century borders of British India, Karzai blamed the United States and Pakistan for "a war that is not ours".
However, he added that he wanted to reshape the partnership between Kabul and Washington, not end an alliance which brought him to power over a decade ago and still ensures billions of dollars in aid and military support each year. Karzai was succeeded by Ghani two years ago.
"I want to be allies with the United States, I want to be partners with the United States," he said. "But it must be a partnership, not a master-and-slave relationship. We must remain the owners of this house, the United States of America, a guest."
As for the Taliban, Karzai said he saw little change in tactics since the death of former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a U.S. drone strike on Pakistani soil in May. He appealed to the Taliban "as fellow Afghans to recognize that this is their country" and to break free of the influence of Pakistan, which despite frequent denials, is blamed by Afghanistan for supporting the insurgency.
"I would call on the Taliban to be free from foreign influence - in this case Pakistan, the Pakistan intelligence and military," Karzai said.
He added that they had to be more realistic in their demands to make peace talks possible. "When they say that foreign forces must leave first and then we will talk, then I tell them that if they keep waiting for that, a lot of Afghan blood will be shed," he said.
