Afghan campaign has benefited country: NATO ministers

Brussels: The NATO-led war in Afghanistan has been a huge benefit to the country and its people, top Western defence ministers said on Wednesday, rejecting recent criticism by President Hamid Karzai.

Compared with the start of the war in 2001 to oust the Taliban, "Afghanistan has benefited enormously," Britain`s Philip Hammond said as he went into a meeting of NATO defence ministers. Afghanistan lacked the basics of a modern state then but "we have turned that around," Hammond said. "It is never going to be like Switzerland" in Afghanistan but there will be a government in Kabul in control of the armed forces and most of the territory, he added. His German colleague Thomas de Maiziere made similar remarks, saying he was very surprised by Karzai`s attack on NATO`s role. "In the past, the Afghan president made very positive remarks about the NATO mission," de Maziere said. "These remarks astonished me and do not reflect what the Afghan people tell us every day," he said. Earlier this month, Karzai condemned the NATO mission for causing "a lot of suffering" without delivering any gains. "On the security front the entire NATO exercise was one that caused Afghanistan a lot of suffering, a lot of loss of life, and no gains because the country is not secure," he told the BBC. NATO defence ministers are due to discuss the Afghan operation later today as part of preparations for the withdrawal of all troops next year. NATO plans a training and advisory mission afterwards but this is being held up by difficult talks on an accord whereby Washington would keep some troops in the country. The US hopes that a deal can be agreed before elections for Karzai`s successor in six months time. Hammond, referring to the US-Afghan talks, said "the indications are that good progress is being made". "All understand that (a US-Afghan accord) that has to be in place before NATO" can negotiate its own agreement, he added.