'War on terror should have hit sanctuaries beyond Afghanistan'

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said the US-led "war on terror" after 9/11 should not have been fought in his country but in "sanctuaries beyond our borders", a clear indication to Pakistan which has been repeatedly accused of harbouring the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Karzai said that he was convinced that previous US President George W Bush's "war on terror" in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 should not have been fought in Afghan villages and homes.
In an apparent reference to Pakistan, he said it should have been prosecuted in "sanctuaries beyond our borders."
"I believe that the war on terror was not fought with honesty and not fought genuinely," the 56-year-old Afghan leader said.

"The consequences are being felt across the region," Karzai told the BBC.
Karzai will soon step down, ending his rule, which began in 2001 when a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime for sheltering Al-Qaeda leaders behind the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Karzai's comments came a day after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had asked the Afghan President to help seal potential militant escape routes across the porous border into Afghanistan following an all-out military campaign against terrorists in North Waziristan, bordering Afghanistan.
Pakistan's army launched the offensive on Sunday, a week after a brazen attack on Karachi airport claimed by the Taliban killed 39 people and signalled the end of a troubled peace talks with the outlawed militant group.

Both Afghanistan and Pakistan are facing serious threats from al Qaeda-linked Taliban militants but relations between the two neighbours are marked by mutual suspicion and hostility.
The US has long pressed Pakistan to root out Taliban militants who have found safe haven in the restive tribal region of North Waziristan and used it as a staging area to launch attacks against Afghan and NATO forces in Afghanistan.