Anti-terror war fought in wrong place: Karzai

KABUL, saying the western troops had been fighting in the wrong place and in a wrong manner.

The US and NATO yesterday ended their longest war in Afghanistan, but a small residual force would start training and advising Afghan forces from January 1.

The ex-president welcomed the end of NATO’s combat mission in a statement released by his office in Kabul.

During the past 13 years, Karzai said, he had frequently called for changes in NATO combat tactics and had been especially against night raids on Afghan villages.

“The US and the international community’s combat mission was centered in the wrong place and was conducted in a wrong manner,” the statement quoted him as saying.

Karzai said he had always asked the international community to target terrorists’ sanctuaries and safe havens, which were not in Afghan villages, but across the border.

He urged the international community to support Afghan forces by providing them with modern equipment.

Karzai hoped the end to NATO combat mission would help reduce civilian casualties in the country.

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