Afghanistan allies 'equally responsible': ministry

The Afghan government said Sunday its foreign allies must share the responsibility for the country's dire situation, hitting back at NATO charges that it was almost as much to blame as insurgents. It was responding to comments by NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer accusing it of corruption and inefficiency and saying the country's problem was "not too much Taliban; it's too little good governance." The comments, in an opinion piece for The Washington Post newspaper, were an unusually strong expression of the alliance's dissatisfaction with the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"Afghanistan and the international community are equally responsible, both for the gains and problems of the past seven years," foreign ministry spokesman Baheen told AFP in response to De Hoop Scheffer's article. This included failure stop an insurgency led by the extremist Taliban regime toppled in a US-led invasion in late 2001; the country's illegal drugs trade and corruption in government, Baheen said. "Afghanistan has been insisting for the past seven years on the existence of terrorist bases across the border, where they (militants) are being equipped, financed and recruited," Baheen said. "As long as these bases are not taken out, a victory is difficult," he said, referring calls by Karzai for the US-led "war on terror" to focus on militant safe havens outside of Afghanistan.

Baheen said the Afghan government was committed to establishing rule of law. However, its efforts were being undermined as "the international community, including some powerful NATO-member countries, have their own favourite warlords" who they back against Karzai's government, he charged. Corruption existed not only in the Afghan administration but also among international groups helping with reconstruction since the Taliban's ouster, said Baheen. "Afghanistan's government is committed in fighting corruption, but this is a long struggle and takes time," he added, citing the trial of more than 700 officials allegedly involved in graft.

Baheen also said that Afghanistan's opium production was only high in places where international foreign forces are stationed, like the British troops in Helmand. The country produces more than 90 percent of the world's opium, a raw ingredient of heroin, and multinational efforts to stop the production have made little headway. NATO heads an military alliance with more than 50,000 troops in Afghanistan, with NATO members also significant contributors to the country's efforts to rebuild after decades of war.

by Staff Writers
Kabul (AFP) Jan 18, 2009