Kabul, Oct 8 (ANI): Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has accused Pakistan of supporting the insurgents fighting NATO forces in his country, saying that the Taliban couldn't "lift a finger without the Pakistanis".
During an interview with the BBC marking ten years since the start of war, Karzai admitted that his government and the US-backed NATO mission have failed to provide security to Afghans.
Karzai said that it was a "serious shortcoming" that the Taliban were able to launch spectacular attacks but also said that "these problems come from abroad" pointing the finger at Pakistan's role in the Taliban insurgency.
"On the overall policy of Pakistan towards Afghanistan and towards the Taliban, definitely, the Taliban will not be able to move a finger without Pakistani support," he said.
Karzai traced some of Afghanistan's current insecurity to military strategy in the early years of the war and the failure to tackle the Taliban sheltering in Pakistan's tribal areas.
"NATO and the US and our neighbours in Pakistan should have concentrated a long time back, in the beginning of 2002-03, on the Taliban sanctuaries," he said.
Karzai emphasised achievements made in education and health sector, but admitted that security was his greatest failing.
"We've done terribly badly in providing security to the Afghan people and this is the greatest shortcoming of our government and of our international partners," he said.
"What we should do is provide better and a more predictable environment of security to the Afghan citizens and in that the international community and the Afghan government definitely have failed," he added.
Karzai also admitted that the policy of talking to the Taliban had received a serious blow with the assassination of ex-president Burhanuddin Rabbani.
He said that he would step down from the presidency in 2014, when NATO begins to draw down troops, adding that he would soon start working to find a successor. (ANI)
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