AFGHANISTAN'S ambassador to the US has attacked Western governments fighting in his country, saying that those who claim the international community is not winning the war against extremists there "should know that they never fully tried".
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"We never asked to be the 51st state," Said Jawad said, a reference to a suggestion last month by Senator John Kerry that the US should concentrate on "realistic goals" and its "original mission" of counter-insurgency in Afghanistan.
"To suggest that Afghans do not deserve peace, pluralism and human rights is wrong and racist," Mr Jawad said.
He said negotiations with the Taliban should be conducted by the Kabul government and should be withheld until it was in a "position of strength". President Barack Obama, in a New York Times interview last week, echoed numerous Administration and US military officials in suggesting that the US seek negotiations with "reconcilable" Taliban elements.
Mr Obama said that the US and NATO were not winning the war in Afghanistan and spoke favourably of US military plans to bolster Afghan tribal forces to participate in the war against extremists - a policy seen as successful in Iraq and being tried in pilot programs in Afghanistan.
Mr Jawad said that such plans "will not work" and would undermine the country's stability. "If they are not losing, why should they talk to us?" he asked.
"Negotiation and reconciliation with the Taliban will succeed only if we talk to them from the position of strength, and with a clear and strong stand on human rights, women's rights and the Afghan constitution."
Mr Jawad's remarks, in an address on Wednesday night at Harvard University, were a forceful public expression of issues privately raised here last month with the Obama Administration by a national security delegation from President Hamid Karzai's Government.
Mr Jawad accused those aiding Afghanistan of "total negligence" in building the Afghan police force and judicial system, "underinvestment" in the army and providing "meagre resources" devoted to helping the Afghan Government deliver services and protect its citizens.
US military expenditures in Afghanistan have totalled more than $US173 billion ($267 billion) since 2001, with an additional $US35 billion spent in reconstruction aid.
US military deaths total more than 660, with 431 NATO troops killed.
Many of Mr Jawad's complaints echo assessments made by the Obama Administration, which lays much of the blame for the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan on what it sees as its predecessor's obsession with Iraq at Afghanistan's expense.
But the ambassador's tone and rejection of any Afghan responsibility for the situation reflected an escalating tension between the Obama and Karzai governments, as Mr Obama's national security team forges a new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Obama officials have made little secret of their concern that Mr Karzai - installed as interim leader in 2001 and elected president in 2004, both times with US backing - is incapable of providing the leadership needed to extend government control and services. They believe corruption is rife within his government, although they have not accused Mr Karzai himself.
US hopes of replacing him in elections this year have foundered on the lack of a viable opposition candidate.
Mr Jawad said Afghanistan appreciates Mr Obama's deployment of 17,000 more US troops to the country. But he couched his praise in terms of casualty levels, saying increased US ground operations "will allow for surgical operations instead of relying on aerial bombings that lead to unacceptable levels of civilian deaths".
The Washington Post, Agence France-Presse
