US should ignore Karzai remarks: Abdullah

KABUL, front-line presidential runner Dr. Abdullah Abdullah on Monday urged the international community to ignore the departing president’s emotions and instead concentrate on the transformation decade.

President Karzai told Washington Post in an interview published on Saturday the 12 year-old US war effort in Afghanistan had not been waged with his country’s interests in mind.

“Afghans died in a war that’s not ours,’ he said in the interview, his first in two years with a US newspaper. Karzai said he felt betrayed by an insufficient US focus on targeting Taliban, insisting that public criticism had been the only way to guarantee an American response to his concerns.

Abdullah, who finished runner-up in the 2009 elections and pulled out of the second round runoff race, said Karzai’s statements were sentimental. “If the US was not nice to Afghanistan then why did President Karzai rule in silence over the past more than decade?”

 “I expect even more such remarks from President Karzai in future, but the US and the international community should not take them serious and should be watchful to the security and political transitions in Afghanistan.”

He said the Afghans will decide on their fate next month and the system will be changed.

“Ensuring transparent and inclusive elections in Afghanistan is the responsibility of the international community,” said the former foreign minister.

He said Afghanistan needed long-term international cooperation, particularly from the US, saying the world should stay committed to the country’s future security and stability.

mrh/ma

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