BERLIN - President Hamid Karzai said training the Afghan police and army was more important than sending more foreign troops to the country, in an interview with a German newspaper on Wednesday.“More than anything else, we need help to rebuild our human capital and our institutions, our army, our police force, our administrative structure, our judiciary and so on,” Karzai told Die Welt. “Although the situation has finally improved, the unintentional bombing of Afghan civilians by NATO and US troops is particularly painful, although it stems from a lack of ground troops. However, I am not sure that sending more troops is the right answer.”
Karzai said he had the impression that the war “is not happening here”, but was being exported to Afghanistan from other countries. “We should concentrate on the sanctuaries and the training camps,” he said. “Afghanistan is not a sanctuary. It was one, but we have taken it back.”
Most concern focuses on the mountainous border area with Pakistan, where Afghan and Western forces believe Taleban extremists regroup to launch attacks in southern Afghanistan.
Karzai said his recent meeting with Pakistan’s under-pressure President Pervez Musharraf had been “very constructive.” “My hope is that Pakistan will take harder and clearer measures in the future and thus becomes a region where extremism is no longer used as a political instrument.
“If Pakistan takes a step in this direction, we in Afghanistan will take many steps to support it.”
AfghanistanÂ’s army currently numbers 58,000 troops, with a target of 70,000. The fledgling force is being trained by Western troops based in Afghanistan, who number around 60,000, mostly within the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). NATO commanders say they need some 7,500 extra troops to carry out their mission as they battle a resurgent Taleban.