US air strikes doing more harm than good, says former Afghan president

Former Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai has said international efforts to help Afghan Security Forces regain control over the territory taken by the Taliban are doing more harm than good.

His remarks came after a "bloody week" in Helmand, as the Taliban captured large swaths of territory, where hundreds of British and American soldiers died, reports the Guardian.

As militants zeroing in on the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, Afghan forces sustained heavy losses, following which Afghan commanders pleaded for intensified US airstrikes.

But Karzai believes they should not.

"They are very wrong, they are terribly wrong. Those who ask foreign forces to bomb Afghanistan are not representing the Afghan people or their interests," said Karzai.

He has always vehemently opposed US airstrikes and night raids on Afghan villages, which he thinks undermined Afghan sovereignty, along with foreign "interference" in Afghan politics.

However, the US disagrees that its military is making things worse - as does the current Afghan government.