Karzai says US is using Afghanistan as weapons testing ground

Last week, US forces dropped the GBU-43, or Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb, in eastern Nangarhar province, reportedly killing 95 ISIL militants.

Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Kabul on April 17, 2017. Rahmat Gul / AP Photo

KABUL // Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai said on Monday that the United States is using Afghanistan as a weapons testing ground, calling the recent use of the largest-ever non-nuclear bomb “an immense atrocity against the Afghan people”.

Last week, US forces dropped the GBU-43, or Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb, in eastern Nangarhar province, reportedly killing 95 militants. Mr Karzai objects to this decision, saying in an interview on Monday that his country “was used very disrespectfully by the US to test its weapons of mass destruction”.

Following the dropping of the bomb, the office of the current Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, said there had been “close coordination” between the US military and Kabul over the operation, and that America had been careful to prevent any civilian casualties.

But Mr Karzai harshly criticised the Afghan government for allowing the use of the bomb.

“How could a government of a country allow the use of a weapon of mass destruction on its own territory? Whatever the reason, whatever the cause, how could they allow that? It just unimaginable,” he said.

The strike was carried out on Thursday morning against an ISIL tunnel complex, which Afghan forces had tried to assault repeatedly in recent weeks, according to Afghan officials. The complex was carved into a mountain.

US and Afghan forces have been battling the Taliban for more than 15 years. But the US military unveiled the largest conventional bomb in its arsenal against ISIL, which has a far smaller but growing presence in Afghanistan. US president Donald Trump has publicly vowed to aggressively confront ISIL.

Mr Trump called the operation a “very, very successful mission” but the Afghan president had harsh words for the new US president.

“My message to president Trump today is that he has committed an immense atrocity against the Afghan people, against fellow human beings,” he said. “If the American government sees us as human beings, then they have committed a crime against fellow human beings, but if they treat us as less than human beings, well, of course they can do whatever they want.”

Mr Karzai added that one of the fundamental reasons he refused to sign the bilateral security agreement with the US when he was the president was specifically to prevent such actions.

“I told the people of Afghanistan in the Loya Jirga (Grand Assembly) we must not sign the BSA with the US, that we must not give them bases till the day they bring peace to Afghanistan,” he said.

“Why would the Afghan people want to give the US bases? For what? To continue the war in Afghanistan, to become more insecure, to lose peace forever, to suffer, to receive more bombs, to receive a weapon of mass destruction? Or for security, for peace and for a better life?”

The US national security adviser HR McMaster met with president Ghani during a visit to Afghanistan on Sunday. According to the office of the president, the pair discussed mutual counterterrorism efforts, security and economic development.

The US estimates that 600 to 800 ISIL fighters are in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar province. American forces have concentrated on fighting them while also supporting Afghan forces against the Taliban. Washington has more than 8,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan, training local forces and conducting counterterrorism operations.

* Associated Press

The US estimates that 600 to 800 ISIL fighters are in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar province.

* Associated Press